Altair Institute of Magic
by InsubstantialCookies
Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Of course, everything just had to go sideways.
1. Chapter 1

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Warnings: AU, obviously, fem!Harry, pretty much British Wizard!bashing, yaddi yaddah, don't expect the things that happened in the books, because I AM NOT JK ROWLING, thank you very much._

 _Enjoy,_

 _~InsubstancialCookies_

 _[June 29, 1994 :: Day of the Third Triwizard Task]_

Callisto Azalea Lilian Potter-Black had killed the "Dark Lord" Voldemort her fourth year in the graveyard, her magic deciding that ' _No, I don't like being used in a shoddy half-assed ritual, thank you very much'_ and putting a rather… spectacular end to that particular "Dark Lord," tearing what remained of his soul and magic into tiny pieces and then burning through every object and person housing any of his magic-including, unfortunately _(or fortunately, depending on your perspective of things)_ each and every one of his Death Eaters.

It left one fourth year unconscious and still tied to a headstone in a no-name graveyard in a shady town to be found hours later by harried Aurors who took surprised note of the dead Peter Pettigrew _("Merlin, if he's alive, how did Sirius Black kill him?")_ and the also dead mutilated body of Voldemort _("By Magic, she's saved us again!"),_ and the deceased Hufflepuff seventh year Cedric Diggory _("May magic surround you, and happiness be with you. Bless you evermore")_ before taking her straight to Saint Mungo's, to be questioned later, _after_ the poor girl was sufficiently healed and conscious.

Back at Hogwarts, when one polyjuiced Barty Crouch fell dead to the ground after having all of the magic drained from him, eliminating his appearance as Alastor Moody. The anxious Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge had a panic attack and had been taken to recover at Saint Mungo's after Lucius Malfoy fell dead next to him. Amelia Bones immediately sent Aurors to find Callisto Potter, a good friend of her daughter Susan's, while simultaneously trying to figure out just what had happened to every ex-Death Eater or implied Death Eater.

The Hogwarts Headmaster Albus Dumbledore had gotten incredibly worried and-dare it to be said,- _furious,_ after Severus Snape, his traitorous spy, met an untimely end for apparently no reason. He immediately attempted to stick his pointy, meddlesome nose into Amelia Bones' business (which resulted in her shouting at him and throwing increasingly violent hexes at his retreating form) as he tried to find just where his little tool Potter had disappeared to and _what, exactly_ did she do to his lemon drops!?

Sirius Black cried for his lost cub, and a concerned werewolf named Remus Lupin did his best to help the Aurors with his Defense Against the Dark Arts experience, whilst trying to calm down his best friend Sirius Black and convince him _not_ to get involved.

The two oldest Weasleys and their conspiring twins worried over their adopted sister, hoping she'd be alright, even as Ronald and Ginevra Weasley, accompanied by Hermione Granger, worried over whether or not they would be given the Potter money if Callisto ended up dead this early on.

Luna Lovegood frowned, her usual serene expression replaced by one of concern at Callisto's disappearance, as she clutched at the hand of Susan Bones as they looked around hopefully, worried for their best friend.

So after Aurors returned to inform Amelia Bones of Callisto's location in Saint Mungo's, and Madam Bones announced the death of Cedric Diggory at the hands of a Death Eater and Callisto Potter's comatose state being placed in a secure ward in the wizarding hospital, all of Callisto's friends met together at Number 12 Grimmauld Place (after kicking out Ronald, Ginevra and Hermione, of course) to make sure their little flower Azzie was alright.

….

 _[July 6, 1994 :: Office of the Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement]_

Amelia Bones, seated comfortably in her chair on one side of the desk, held her head in her hands as she bemoaned the sheer amount of paperwork that came with the apparent final defeat of the Dark Lord Voldemort, and the subsequent death of every follower he had.

The Daily Prophet had had a field day with the death of many prominent members of society, the emptying of most of Azkaban, the death of Cedric Diggory, the trial of Sirius Black _(she could have done without_ that _particular mutt sticking his paws into the mess after he was freed)_ , the Minister of Magic's utter incompetence, and the hospitalization of the Girl-Who-Lived, Callisto Potter. Well, Potter- _Black,_ apparently.

Just then a knock came at the door, and her nervous assistant, a recent Ravenclaw graduate of Hogwarts, Janie stuck her head in to peer warily at her boss.

"Cornelius Fudge is outside, Madam Bones. You had a meeting with him?"

Amelia sighed, they better have good news. "Send him in, Janie." It wasn't often Fudge came to her office instead of asking her to come to him, but even he was wary of Amelia's ire with her being as exhausted and annoyed as he was.

"Oh, Amelia!" Cornelius Fudge started nervously, as he took a seat, "How is the investigation into Y-you-Know-Who's sudden appearance and… ha… the terrible deaths of some of our noble citizens."

"Terribly," Amelia replied with a bit of scorn, "we won't know anything for sure until Miss Potter wakes up, though the healers believe that she had an act of extremely violent accidental magic after being tortured."

"Is there anything I can do as Minister to speed the investigation up?" Fudge harried.

"Not with this, _but_ " Amelia paused as her eyes narrowed, Fudge better not back out of this, "it would be incredibly useful of you to find a way to divert the attention of the public and the press, as well as _finally do something_ about our relations with magical creatures."

"Oh, but Amelia! The creatures can't be trusted, of course-"

"Does it look like I want your opinion, Cornelius?!" Amelia interrupted, the frustration that had built up over the past week spilling over, "They could possibly help with our investigations, and it would greatly help the DMLE to have better relations with them! Magical beings are as much a part of our society as witches and wizards are, so figure something out!"

"Amelia! I am the Minister of Magic! I must protect the populace-"

"No! You trying to lynch magical beings isn't helping! It's _my_ job to protect our citizens, and _yours_ to improve relations!" Amelia nearly shouted.

"Well… how about this," Cornelius threw out the first somewhat feasible idea that came to mind, "Once our dear Girl-who-lived recovers, hopefully in time for the next Hogwarts year, of course, we can do an exchange program!"

"What?" that definitely wasn't anything Amelia was expecting.

"We will send 20 of our dear Hogwarts students-5 from each house, of course-to that one school, Tair? Air? All-air?" - "Altair." Amelia interjected absently, still wondering how the _absolutely incompetent_ Minister had come up with a halfway decent idea. - "Yes, yes! Altair! We can send 20 students there with the mission to ingratiate magical creatures to Britain, we can't have any of them coming to Hogwarts, of course, that would be terrible, but with the Girl-who-lived there, they will be sufficiently protected from the bloodthirsty creatures!"

"Minister-"

"No! Oh, this is perfect! The press will love to know that I am trying to improve relations, and, oh! The magical creatures will feel indebted because I will have graced them with the Girl-who-lives presence… Oh!" Fudge stood rapidly, chair nearly falling over, and bustled out of the room, hat clutched desperately, "I have to go consult Albus Dumbledore! He will love this! It'll be perfect… perfectly safe, too for our citizens… selecting students…"

Amelia stared at the open door in surprise and growing worry, this had better not end up giving her _more paperwork!_ But it was a good idea, and it would help magical being relations… and maybe her Susan would get to go to that incredibly selective Altair school…

…..

 _[July 10, 1994 :: Office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]_

From a glance at the clock on the wall, Headmaster Albus Dumbledore turned to Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge, who sat across from his desk on a plush red chair. The silver instruments in the room whirred and buzzed as their long limbs spun absently.

"It is 5:52, Cornelius," Albus Dumbledore began jovially, "the Altair Institute representatives should be arriving shortly. I am sure they will agree with our idea, especially when we reveal that our Girl-who-lived will assuredly be joining them."

Callisto Potter had awakened a day ago, though only for a few hours, just enough to answer the questions of Amelia Bones, before being given a sleeping-draught for her body and magic to heal. Though the Head of the DMLE hadn't yet informed the press of what had happened, she had seemed much more relaxed after the conversation.

Cornelius Fudge nodded happily, concealing his nervousness, green bowler hat placed firmly on his lap. "Of course, of course. They would be fools not to, Albus! We are generously suggesting a chance for these magical creatures to enter our good graces!"

"Yes, yes," the Hogwarts headmaster agreed, "they will no doubt agree, rest assured. After all, we, in Magical Britain, are very important allies to have." His eyes fell on the fireplace, "They are here!"

The extravagant fireplace flared green once and a figure stepped out gracefully, with another person following not a second later with another flare of green. The first figure was obviously female, though not at all human. She had curly, nearly black dark-blue hair, ears curled into a deft point, and dark bronze skin. Her eyes were a dark blue and her confident smile showed off a set of rather sharp teeth.

The dark purple dragonhide outfit she wore showed off a multitude of weaponry, all sharp knives and pointed throwing stars, her high black boots adorned gracefully with enforced buckles. The top went down to her wrists, where her hands were covered in elbow-length leather gloves, with silver bands laying on top of them. She was also wearing a silvery-gray cloak decorated with a coiled golden red ashwinder set in front of a blazing icy blue fire, laying in a nest of swords and knives.

It was the same cloak her companion wore, though his was over a blood red top that contrasted with black dragonhide pants. He wasn't wearing any visible weapons, but it was him who looked more fierce. His tanned skin seemed to glow golden, but the two humans thought it was a trick of the light. His eyes, however, were a glorious gold, his hair a light silver and blood red lips were pulled back to bare long fangs.

In a word, they were beautiful. It was more accurate, however, to say that they looked so incredibly inhuman, with their breathtaking looks and otherworldly aura, that Cornelius Fudge was incredibly intimidated, and Albus Dumbledore frowned, _surely,_ he thought, _they didn't leave a vampire and a fae in charge of a school? A recipe for disaster, that was!_

But they did, they definitely did.

And they had a lot of ulterior motives, and it just so happened that Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge played right into their hands.

 _Oh yes,_ the vampire thought with glee, fangs glinting in his gleeful grin, _this will be a very interesting year at the Altair Institute of Magic. Very interesting, indeed._


	2. Chapter 2

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _..._

… _...Albus Dumbledore frowned,_ surely, _he thought_ , they didn't leave a vampire and a fae in charge of a school? A recipe for disaster, that was!

 _But they did, they definitely did._

 _And they had a lot of ulterior motives, and it just so happened that Albus Dumbledore and Cornelius Fudge played right into their hands._

Oh yes, _the vampire thought with glee, fangs glinting in his gleeful grin,_ this will be a very interesting year at the Altair Institute of Magic. Very interesting, indeed….

...

 _[July 10, 1994 :: Office of the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]_

"Good evening!" Albus Dumbledore said jovially, expression one of joy, hiding his worries behind his Occlumency shields. "I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. This is Britain's Minister for Magic, Cornelius Fudge. Welcome, welcome. Have a seat! Tea? Lemon drop?"

"No thank you," the woman spoke, voice light and graceful, though it seemed like it held untold secrets. "I am Alith Mercuriel, Deputy Headmistress of Altair Institute of Magic. This is my associate, whom you may refer to as Solaris, a professor at our school."

'Solaris' only tilts his head in greeting, cold eyes pinned to the Hogwarts Headmaster, eyebrow raised as if he was saying _your move._

"A -" Cornelius faltered as Solaris's eyes pinned him to his seat, and he swallowed before continuing, "A pleasure to have you both, Deputy Mercuriel, Mister Solaris-"

"Professor Solaris, if you will, Minister Fudge." Solaris interjected in a purr that seemed to make him all the more threatening. The glint in his eyes said that he knew it, too.

"Professor Solaris, of course. We have a proposition for the Altair Institute of Magic, if you will hear it." Cornelius finished.

Alith Mercuriel smoothly raised an eyebrow, a slightly entertained curve in her mouth. "And what, persay, do you propose? The... _request_ you sent for an audience was perfectly… unclear."

"Our apologies," Dumbledore interjected, never the one to be left out of a conversation for long, "but I thought it was an unsuitable subject to discuss in a letter. It is a complicated proposal, but one I believe you will approve of."

Alith Mercuriel shared a glance with Solaris, one that apparently made Dumbledore believe they were nervous, as he added on, "It is a request that will only assist us both, I assure you."

Deputy Headmistress Mercuriel shook her head, offended but not letting it show as she replied easily, "Enlighten us, then. I am sure that your… _complicated_ request is… interesting, at least."

Dumbledore beamed, assuming it was a compliment, and not the disdainful amusement that it was. "Why, to increase Britain's cooperation with non-human magicals, Cornelius had the idea of an exchange program. We would have, say… 20, of our students, attend Altair Institute for a year, to better understand non-human cultures and to be exposed to a different experience. I am sure that Miss Callisto Potter would be delighted as well at the opportunity."

Both Mercuriel and Solaris were utterly still for a moment, before Solaris let out an amused hum and Mercuriel scoffed before laughing softly. Mercuriel had to admit that she was slightly sorry for this poor "Girl-who-lived" if her name was dropped this often in conversation, even as Solaris gave a mirthful grin, fangs flashing, as he responded fluidly. "We at Altair value student privacy and confidentiality in great esteem. Further noted, what incentive do we have of allowing your students to our _elite_ school?"

Cornelius was the one to respond, nerves forgotten; "We would allow you to place necessary privacy charms, understandably." It was something he would have to allow, "Compensation… we would pay for tuition, of course, but it would also allow us to better understand the needs of magical creatures. Many of the students that would be allowed to participate in this exchange of sorts would be upstanding members of British society, including of course the recent defeater of a Dark Lord."

The two personnel of Altair stiffened at the word 'creatures,' but nearly laughed at the thought of the pest that had called himself Voldemort being even a miniscule threat to them. The only interesting thing that occured was his death, and the apparent power and prowess of a child of _one and a half_ years being capable of defeating him. Not to mention the massive surge of magic on the day where Callisto Potter had finally destroyed the Dark Lord. She was something to look into, at least.

 _Dark Lord_ , _indeed…._ Solaris thought, _ridiculous, really._ He had to shake his head to bring his thoughts back on track before continuing, "This… exchange, would only be possible if all of the students agreed to be judged and held to the same standards and rules as Altair students. If they were to fail, or we were forced to remove them from our school, their memories would be erased. You mentioned 20 students? We will only allow for 12 students. Three from each of the houses of your school, and your… _heroine,_ will be very… _welcome_ in our school."

"That sounds agreeable. I am sure Miss Potter will be glad to hear that." Cornelius mused carefully, too happy over his supposed success to think through what exactly 'judged and held to the same standards' meant. "We will choose the 12 students, and send you a list of them, if that would be alright."

The entertained look shared between the vampire and fae went unnoticed by the two humans. There hadn't once been a mention of student safety, and neither hammered out any official agreements of any sort. It was as if the two of them didn't care for their students' safety. Because that was one thing that would most definitely be in question at Altair. That, and whether or not they could keep up with aggravated non-humans and sadists for teachers. Solaris doubted it, but it would be fun to find out.

"That would be fine." Mercuriel says anyways, "Good evening, men" she dismisses herself, rising and exciting first through the floo, Solaris following moments later with only a delighted nod as a farewell.

 _Oh,_ Solaris thought, _very, very interesting, indeed. This will be amusing, at least, if nothing else._

…

 _[July 11, 1994 :: Saint Mungo's, Secure Ward]_

"Come on, pup, wake up for your godfather…" a very… _serious_ Sirius Black murmured as he held the hand of his blood-adopted daughter. She had been unconscious for 13 days, only waking up briefly the day before, when Sirius _hadn't been there!_ His brother in all but blood, werewolf Remus Lupin sat next to him, a comforting hand on Sirius's shoulder as he looked down at the girl his wolf saw as cub.

They both looked downcast, depression only dissolving when they recalled the speed at which Sirius Black had been freed and pardoned after Madam Amelia Bones saw the traitor, Peter Pettigrew and immediately called an inquiry.

"Pup… you're supposed to _get up,_ and be the beautifully happy baby girl of Lily's I know you are!" Sirius whined pathetically.

"I'd rather not…" Callisto Potter-Black moaned, "I feel very tired…"

"Cub~!" "Pup~!" the two men cried in delight. Sirius bent down to wrap his arms around the girl, hugging her close, even as Remus's panicked fury came to the surface.

"Callisto Azalea Lilian Potter-Black! Don't you _dare_ get yourself hurt this bad ever again! You are… you're _prohibited_ from getting hurt enough to be sent to Saint Mungo's ever again!" Remus growled, wolf agreeing completely, "If, if… if you don't listen to me, I'll… I'll tie you up and never let you out of the house again!"

"Moony!" Callisto objected with real worry, "You wouldn't _really_ do that, would you? Wait! Saint Mungo's?! Padfoot why- how- you shouldn't be here!"

Sirius barked out an amused laugh, "Calm down, pup! I was pardoned after your little show… me being alive was proof enough of my innocence. Don't worry, Azzie."

Callisto did _not_ relax. "My little show? Wait, what happened!? I was… I was in the graveyard.. and V-Voldemort was… it _hurt,_ Padfoot… I don't… remember. What happened next?"

"Oh cub…" Remus said softly, "what happened, Azzie, was that your magic lashed out and _utterly destroyed_ the Dark Lord and all of his followers. You killed him for good. The public has been heralding you as a saviour, but we're just so happy that you're _safe,_ Azzie. _You're safe._ "

"What?" Callisto asked weakly, "...all of his followers? Safe? I've never been… never been safe."

"You are now." Remus said firmly, "I know that it's horrible that Voldemort's death caused the death of… a lot of people, but it _wasn't your fault._ They were all guilty, Callisto Azalea, you know the Death Eater orientation requires you to torture and kill. They were guilty, Callisto, and it was _Voldemort's_ fault they died."

Callisto sobbed, _but was it really?_ She asked herself. It had been _her_ magic, that much she could tell from the _gleeful_ and _smug_ feeling that pulled at her magical core, humming happily in a rather relaxed and content way. It wasn't something she had ever mentioned to anyone. After asking Hermione-no, _Granger,_ she had abandoned Callisto, after all-about her thoughts on Magic's sentience and getting laughed at and scolded for it, she'd stopped talking about the way that her magic seemed to _talk_ to her.

It was an incredibly strange feeling, as if Callisto and her magic shared a body, and her magic-while it couldn't make informed decisions or form words-was a sort of guiding presence whose main purpose was to protect and ensure Callisto's physical and mental wellbeing. And whose secondary purpose was to get Callisto into incredibly risky situations and force her to nearly kill herself getting out of them… _asshole…_

"It wasn't, pup!' Sirius insisted, "It was their own faults for bowing to Lord Snake-face!"

The insult was enough to pull a startled giggle out of Callisto, and Sirius tugged her into a gentle hug a smile on his face at seeing Callisto relax slightly. Callisto blinked blearily, still adjusting to her surroundings. She knew she was in Saint Mungo's, Remus had said that much, but did everything have to be white and gray? It was driving her crazy, and she'd only been awake a few minutes. The bed was too squishy, and shouldn't there be a healer somewhere?

As if knowing what she was thinking about, Remus stood with a gentle smile, "I have to get a healer. They will want you here at least three more days to make sure you've recovered. We have a lot we need to talk to you about, but Saint Mungo's isn't the place."

He disappeared out of the private room, door swishing shut behind him even as Sirius squeezed Callisto tightly. Callisto looped her arms around him weakly, glad to see him pardoned and _there_.

"You've been in here for 13 days, pup." Sirius commented, "I've been out of my mind! The healers insisted on seeing me too-prison and all that-and there's been a lot of interesting developments lately. Fudge, the moron, has been planning something with _Dumbledore's_ approval, which can never end well. It's likely it will involve you, pup."

"I don't want any more attention!" Callisto cried, "It's enough from defeating Voldemort as a baby, but finally _killing him_ just a week ago? I don't want to be this-this _Girl-who-lived!_ "

"But you are, Callisto. Azzie, look at me." Sirius ordered, uncommonly stern as Callisto looked up at him warily, "This is likely to be difficult, but now you're safe, and you have Moony and I to watch over you. You don't have to do everything anymore, alright?"

"But.. didn't you say that Fudge and D-dumbledore had something planned? You won't be able to-"

"Hush." Sirius interjected, "We might not end up able to be _directly_ there, but Moony and I will always look out for you, Azzie. You can be sure about _that._ "


	3. Chapter 3

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

...

… _...Dumbledore beamed…."Why, to increase Britain's cooperation with non-human magicals, Cornelius had the idea of an exchange program. We would have, say… 20, of our students, attend Altair Institute for a year, to better understand non-human cultures and to be exposed to a different experience."_

 _Solaris let out an amused hum and Mercuriel scoffed before laughing softly. Solaris gave a mirthful grin, fangs flashing, as he responded fluidly. "We at Altair value student privacy and confidentiality highly. ...What would be receiving as compensation?"_

 _Cornelius was the one to respond; "We would allow you to place necessary privacy charms, understandably…. Compensation… we would pay for tuition, of course, but it would also allow us to better understand the needs of magical creatures."..._

… _.. "The Girl-Who-Lived will certainly be involved….."_

… _.."I don't want any more attention!" Callisto cried, "It's enough from defeating Voldemort as a baby, but finally_ killing _him just a week ago? I don't want to be this-this_ Girl-who-lived!" _..._

… _.."Hush." Sirius interjected, "We might not end up able to be_ directly _there, but Moony and I will always look out for you Azzie. You can be sure about_ that" _..._

… _._

 _Word Count: 1,920_

 _[July 27, 1994 :: Number 12, Grimmauld Place]_

Three days on a hospital bed passed, and Callisto was tired of the sympathetic smiles of Ministry workers and the constant questions… and the _fawning,_ why did she have to be a hero?! They had forbidden her from seeing her friends, which just made everything that much worse. Every day, one of the less annoying healers had brought a copy of the _Daily Prophet,_ and every day, there was at _least_ one article about her. _How did Callisto Potter defeat He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named? Life before Hogwarts: Callisto Potter. Callisto Potter's friends and foes speak out. Callisto Potter: her Hogwarts experience._

She was _tired_ of having to read them! They barely even told the truth, and she just wanted to go to Grimmauld Place! Finally, when the healers had grudgingly allowed her to leave after three days, Sirius had practically abducted her from the hospital, fleeing to Grimmauld Place before Remus drugged her with a sleeping draught and left her in one of the few rooms that were clean and not covered in nasty Black Family heirlooms.

At least the bed was nice. And there wasn't _hospital food,_ or healers every day, but Sirius had started freaking out over something, and kept looking for more and more books, piling them into the room she was using. He had started after an offhand comment from Remus about Sirius being able to claim a… _lordship?_ and that "didn't you plan to make Azzie your heiress, Padfoot?"

That whole idea just _sounded_ bad. Callisto was honestly glad to say that she wouldn't have to deal with psycho-Sirius for more than two months. _That_ brought up an entirely new issue, however, what with Dumbledore and Fudge's scheming. She vividly remembered the conversation the five of them had had. Dumbledore and Fudge had shown up the day before, smiling genially and looking like everything had gone their way.

 _/…. "Miss Potter!" Minister Fudge said jovially, "It is good to see you well, my dear!"_ Great, _Callisto thought,_ he's picked up on Dumbledore's "my dear" habit. She should have hexed Dumbledore the first time he used it… it would have silenced him quickly. Oh, he's still talking? " _...have done the Wizarding World a great service, Miss Potter. An incredible service. We would like to ask your participation in another event, all for the good of the Wizarding World, of course, of course."_

Did he hear the things that came out of his mouth? _Callisto mused thoughtfully, nodding outwardly with a properly intrigued and awed expression on her face. "Only if it's for the good of the Wizarding World, Minister" she said with an appropriately eager expression. Hearing Sirius' scoff, she turned to see him looking incredibly amused,_ was she laying it on a bit thick?

" _Oh yes, my dear." Dumbledore spoke up. "We have planned an exchange with another school for 12 of our fifth year students. You included, of course."_

" _An exchange?"_ Oh Merlin this was going to go horribly _Callisto figured, "An exchange where, exactly?"_

" _With the Altair Institute of Magic, of course!" Fudge spoke up happily. Remus' choking noise behind her ensured that it was a relatively important and prestigeful school. "They have been generous enough to allow an exchange. The school caters to all sorts of magical creatures, dark ones as well unfortunately. Werewolves, vampires, veela. Even those ghastly Naga beasts!"_

What in Merlin's name is a Naga? _was Callisto's first thought, then_ oh-Merlin-he's-an-idiot, putting the likes of Draco Malfoy and Ronald Weasley in the same school as a vampire, or even a werewolf? Did they want to ruin all relations?

" _That sounds like an interesting plan, Minister" Sirius spoke up loudly, covering up Remus' growl at being called a dark beast. "Who have you selected?"_

" _That is one of the reasons we are here, Mr. B-black." Fudge actually stuttered on his name, finally recognizing who was in the room with him. "We wanted to see if Miss Potter had any input. She is an important member of society now, after all."_

 _Callisto was wide-eyed, but that didn't stop her from taking the opportunity this provided her, "Thank you, Minister! I don't really have any suggestions-the only two people in my year I really talk to were R-ron and Hermione, and Susan Bones, of course. But, Minister…" she hesitated, playing the act of a nervous girl._

" _Yes, Miss Potter?"_

" _If you could-I mean, I know she'll only be a fourth year-my best friend, Luna Lovegood? I know that she would just love the opportunity to go to… Altair?" she looked to the minister for correction, "She'd love to be able to go to Altair, even if only for a year. I wouldn't want to go alone."_

Yeah, _Callisto thought darkly,_ If I'm without her and Susan I'll end up going crazy having to constantly deal with Ron and Hermione in a school of non-humans that most of the Hogwarts students would be prejudiced against.

" _Oh!" Fudge cried, eating it up and exchanging an almost worried glance with Dumbledore. "I am sure that this could be arranged, Miss Potter. If her parents give their permission only, though."_

" _Of course!" Callisto cried, still overplaying her want to participate,"I would be delighted to attend Altair for a year. All for the good of the Wizarding World, right?".../_

 _Yeah,_ Callisto thought, looking back. _Good for the Wizarding World, maybe, but not good for my sanity._

After realizing that Callisto was being serious, Sirius and Remus had decided that if she was going to _the_ elite Altair Institute of Magic she would have to be prepared for everything. That included _every single_ possible race she could meet there _("I didn't know there were more Werefolk than just werewolves!" "Fae? Fauns? Naga?-Bloody hell, are you making things up now, Sirius?")_ and an incredible amount of spell revision, dueling practice _("Pah," Sirius said, "Underage magic rules never apply to purebloods. Now back in dueling stance.")_

Callisto was _miserable,_ but she was learning and spending quality time with her dogfather and werewolf uncle. The only thing she'd had to look forward to was today, when her closest friends Luna Lovegood and Susan Bones were coming over. She'd at least get to spend a day with sane-err… nevermind on that thought. Luna was definitely not sane, but she _was_ adorable and kind. It made up for it.

So now Callisto was waiting anxiously by the fireplace, waiting for the floo to activate. The house was now relatively clean, and much of the furniture had been replaced on Sirius' insistence (and the agonized wails of Kreacher) but that did not mean that by any means was the house clean. All Callisto wanted was a break, which thankfully came with a flare of green as the floo activated in a burst of heat.

"Azalea Potter-Black!" Luna cried in delight in her odd habit of preferring Callisto's middle name over her first. She skipped over to Callisto and flung her arms around her neck, laughing serenely as Callisto held her close and spun her in a circle, even as the floo flared again.

"Azzie!" Susan called happily, joining Luna in her attempt of crushing Callisto and smothering her with hugs.

"Moonbeam! Susan!" Callisto laughed as Luna stood on her toes. She was thankfully still shorter than Callisto-though only by a little, and quickly growing taller-and was taking advantage of it to abuse Callisto's poor toes.

"Hey Susie, Lu-lu." Callisto giggled as they both swatted at her, detaching themselves with protests against the nicknames. Susan and Callisto had been close friends in first year after Callisto realized that Ron and Hermione were more annoying than they were kind, though she still hung out with them some of the time.

Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott had practically attacked her in their attempt at convincing Callisto to join their group of friends, and Callisto and Susan had ended up being very good friends. After they saw little first-year Luna Lovegood being bullied, they adopted her into their group of friends and frequently joined each other over the breaks at someone's house, or went on one of Luna's "creature expeditions" looking for crumple horned snorkacks or blibbering humdingers.

They had quickly figured out that Luna's creatures were a way to disguise her strange ability see magic and "read" personalities in people, and that because of how powerful the ability was it ended up simplifying itself to only seeing specific things to preserve at least _some_ of Luna's sanity.

Neither had ever pushed her into going on foolish and unsafe expeditions to save something or someone Callisto had no business helping, and the three girls always looked out for each other. Callisto dealt with Luna's innocent and slightly ditzy personality and made sure she didn't hurt herself, while Susan made sure they got everything they had to do done on time.

They had especially helped Callisto after Granger and Weasley had abandoned her after being selected for the Triwizard Tournament, and after officially calling it quits trying to make Granger and Weasley into decent human beings, Susan and Luna had taken her fully away from their bad influence.

Now they were saving her again, though this time just from the insanity that was Sirius Black and Remus Lupin worrying over her attending Altair for a year. "Come on! You have to meet my godfather and er… god-uncle? Sirius Black and Remus Lupin."

"That awesome teacher in third year?" Susan asked as they followed Callisto to the kitchen, where Sirius sat on top of the counter, talking animatedly at Remus, all with wild hand gestures and extravagant waves. Remus was ignoring him and drinking hot chocolate, though he looked up when Callisto and her friends entered.

"Thanks for the compliment." Remus grinned, even as Callisto ran forward with a pout to try and take his drink.

"Unfair, Moony! You know I love hot chocolate!"

"Moony~! You aren't listening to mee!" Sirius wailed, to which Remus replied with a raised eyebrow as he stunned the animagus absently. "Sorry," he said gently, "he's not ready for polite society yet. Also-" he reached over to point at three mugs of hot chocolate that lay innocently under a warming charm "-I did make you hot chocolate earlier, Azzie, but you were too worried to hear me."

Callisto took one eagerly, not even noticing when her hair turned a vibrant purple. Susan and Luna both giggled, though Callisto barely noticed, and Luna eagerly took a hot chocolate, hoping for a fun color. Sure enough, her hair turned to a bubbly bright pink, though Susan was more hesitant.

"Callisto, you know your hair is a different color now, right?" Susan hedged warily. Callisto's eyes widened slightly before she pulled a strand of hair in front of her face and looking at it for a moment before shrugging.

"I _rock_ purple" she returned plainly, though she was eyeing Remus mischievously. The wolf's eyes widened before he hurried out of the kitchen, leaving Sirius where he was splayed on the floor unconscious. Susan laughed before she too drunk her hot chocolate, hair turning a rather fetching blue-green.

"Come on, we have a lot to talk about, girls!" Callisto grinned as they passed Sirius, absently flicking a few charms and hexes, changing his outfit to a violently orange dress and his skin a neon green, as well as making his hair unbelievably curly. He'd get payback, for sure, but he wouldn't be able to change his appearance for a few days at least.


	4. Chapter 4

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

…

A/N: It makes me feel all giddy inside when I realize some of you actually like what I'm writing. I'm usually really self conscious when I write, but I find myself just wanting to write and write more chapters for this, just to be able to see how you feel about it. I've never 'published' anything for anyone to read before, and I never even let anyone read any of the stories I start. So, while 10 or so favorites may not really be much, it feels really awesome to know that just 10 people are enjoying my story. It's incredibly hard to resist not posting all of the chapters I have written right away, though I'm at the point where the chapters are getting longer and longer.

(and by the way, thanks for the review Spikey465 and Katzztar, I appreciate it)

Farewell for now,

~Insubstancial

...

…..." _We have planned an exchange with another school for 12 of our fifth year students. You included, of course." Dumbledore spoke_

" _An exchange?"_ Oh Merlin this was going to go horribly _Callisto figured, "An exchange where, exactly?"_

" _With the Altair Institute of Magic, of course!" Fudge spoke up happily. Remus' choking noise behind her ensured that it was a relatively important and prestigeful school. "They have been generous enough to allow an exchange. The school caters to all sorts of magical creatures, dark ones as well unfortunately. Werewolves, vampires, veela. Even those ghastly Naga beasts!"..._

… _.."Of course!" Callisto cried, still overplaying her want to participate,"I would be delighted to attend Altair for a year. All for the good of the Wizarding World, right?"..._

…

 _Word Count: 1,890_

 _[August 20, 1994 :: Altair Institute of Magic]_

The massive mess hall-it was actually an enormous atrium filled wooden tables and comfortable chairs-was filled with a multitude of magical races, naga (human from waist up, serpent from waist down) curled up comfortably on the floor near a fireplace, fauns (mischievous half-goat half-humans) sitting in the soft grass near the few centaurs. The animal fae (they were really just animals that had a human form and the ability to wield some magic) were sitting closer to the werefolk than they usually did, and the vampires were just lounging in whatever shade they could find. The daemons (that's a whole other explanation) were lounging in a larger group, as were the other fae (nature-based beings that were generally stronger than humans) and elves (pointy eared imbeciles with a species-wide superiority complex, though that usually went for _all_ of the non-humans). The humans sat wherever, sometimes closer together than others.

It wasn't segregated at all, however. There were plenty of groups that welcomed lots of different species, getting on agreeably with a limited amount of maiming (Not that this didn't happen every day at Altair. Maiming and death occurred quite frequently, in fact) and exchanging ideas about why they were all called here. Altair had always held some tension between the different species, but the students almost always tried to assist each other to be able to improve in many different ways.

Though it was frequent that students stayed at the school over summer, with breaks taken to travel or conclude business, it was extremely rare for all of the current students to be called to the school for a meeting before the start of school, even for important news. Usually, they would explain the news in the Altair Alumni and Student newspaper and allow students to discuss it with each other. The idea of a school-wide meeting was alarming, and all of them agreed on one thing; it was either really interesting news or _extremely terrible news._

They were hoping for interesting.

The chatter ceased in an instant as the imposing forms of the Headmaster and Deputy Headmistress appeared soundlessly. They were both wearing Altair cloaks-silver with a gold ashwinder nesting atop swords and knives with blue flames burning in the background-and were visibly armed. Knives, throwing stars, daggers, a sword or two, _(was that a garrote?),_ potions and poisons, a crossbow. They were walking armouries.

The Altair headmaster, an Elder Vampire by the name of Riveren Aizaguirre, was one of the most powerful vampires that bothered even associating with young magicals. His hair was a glowing blue-silver, eyes a smouldering gold, and his skin seems to gleam bronze in the light. His face was perfectly aristocratic, high cheekbones and a strong jaw, and he seemed to resonate the message of " _Danger! Danger!"_ with the dark aura that buzzed around him.

He glided up to a raised dais, not that it was necessary with the way every eye trained on him, Alith Mercuriel's arm tucked gently into his elbow as they made a flawless display of the strength, power and _confidence_ that came with Altair Institute, not to mention interspecies cooperation, with Aizaguirre being a vampire lord in every sense of the word, and Mercuriel an extremely powerful and slightly temperamental weather fae.

"Evening." Riveren Aizaguirre purred, the magics in his voice that came with his over 2,000 years of age evident as the slightly weaker students cringed at the magic that came with the single word. "Altair has had an intriguing recent development… one I am sure all of us here will enjoy in one way or another."

Murmurs started, glances and wary mental messages being sent through the students. The headmaster and deputy headmistress let it continue with amused smiles until Mercuriel stepped forward. Even without being a thousands year old vampire, her voice brought everyone there to silence in an instant.

"We were… approached by a school that suggested an 'exchange' of a sort. 12 of their students would attend Altair Institute for one year, and in return they would be able to learn more about 'non-human' cultures" every single one of the students, including the humans, bristled at the phrasing, but were silent as she continued, "They also expressed the large possibility of their magical laws regarding said 'non-humans' being changed. They also _insinuated_ that the attendance of one of their celebrities will increase the number of students that attend our school."

A multitude of students scoffed at that. Not only were the "non-human" comments incredibly offensive, they didn't need influence from celebrities because all of the greatest magic users came from Altair. But it was true that it would be enjoyable. They get to pick on idiot wizards and a stuck up celebrity who probably didn't do anything in the first place, and if they tried to leave the memories would be erased.

"Where are they from?" one brave, nameless werewolf called out.

"Hogwarts." Riveren Aizaguirre smirked at the abrupt burst of laughter from the students. If they were from Hogwarts School of Incompetent Fools then they'd never catch up to any of the students. Half would be gone before the first month was up, they were sure of it. "The celebrity is Callisto Potter, the 'girl-who-lived.' Perhaps she'd be willing to assist our necromancy and blood magic students in figuring out just how that happened. Not to mention the others studying that rather interesting spike of magic a month ago."

"Ooh, we'll eat them alive!" the same nameless werewolf cried in delight.

"Unfortunately, one of the rules their _dear_ Minister established was that they couldn't die _here…_ so I'm afraid you might have to be discreet." Aizaguirre murmured, though his voice was heard by all, incredibly amused by the constantly bloodthirsty Altair mentality. _Well,_ he amended to himself, _the healers-in-training aren't as bloodthirsty… just manipulative._

Some of the more sadistic and slightly insane students actually cackled, thinking about being able to take their aggravation out on practically defenceless British wizards. Eager and excited whispers passed through the students. One of the necromancy students placed a _sonorus_ on his voice as he stood, "Will Potter actually submit to having us test however she survived the pesky killing curse? Or can we force her to?"

"Considering that they are saying it was her magic appearing 'accidentally' to kill the fool Voldemort, I'd suggest discretion, at least." Aizaguirre mused. They weren't his students-he would fiercely protect any student and alumnus from Altair, but that didn't extend to "exchange" students from an overrated English school. If any of them proved themselves competent, however, he planned to gleefully steal them away from Hogwarts, as he had various times in the past. They always liked it better here, anyways.

Aizaguirre straightened his posture slightly, and his expression morphed to one of insistent sincerity, "We will, of course, welcome them with our very best hospitality and ensure that they… _enjoy_ their time spent here." One of his eyebrows raised in a challenge, "We _are_ the best, after all, and we _must_ show off."

...

 _[August 27, 1994 :: Daily Prophet: Special Issue]_

 **HOGWARTS TO VISIT ALTAIR INSTITUTE OF MAGIC**

 _Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter_

After the incredible defeat of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the hands of Callisto Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived, many have been calling for changes. Without the threat of You-Know-Who hanging over our heads, we will be able to focus more on other issues of importance.

These include, as the Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge says, "The relations between Britain's Wizarding World and the sentient magical creatures around the world."

To improve said relations, Minister Fudge has enabled twelve of Hogwarts students to attend the Altair Institute of Magic for an entire school year, believing that the incredibly diverse population of different magical creatures that attend the school (which includes vampires, werewolves and fairies) will provide Hogwarts students with opportunities to learn more about their various cultures. To help the families adjust to their students being so far away, Minister Fudge has graciously gifted each family with 500 galleons, to be able to buy new school supplies to prepare for this exciting opportunity.

"I am sure that this will enable these Hogwarts students to learn about different cultures outside of Britain," Minister Fudge said, "and I will do my best to ensure that everything goes smoothly with each of the students and their families."

Twelve fifth-year students have been allowed to attend a year of schooling at Altair Institute of Magic, three from each of the houses of Hogwarts. From the house of bravery, Gryffindor: our esteemed Girl-Who-Lived herself, Callisto Potter, with Ron Weasley and muggleborn Hermione Granger. From the house of Hufflepuff: purebloods Susan Bones, Hannah Abbott and muggleborn Justin Finch-Fletchley. From Ravenclaw: half-bloods Terry Boot, Michael Corner and Luna Lovegood. From Slytherin: purebloods Draco Malfoy, Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass.

"We at the Ministry of Magic offer them the best of luck." Minister for Magic Cornelius Fudge commented, "We are sure that they will succeed in the best of ways, and that they will be outstanding representatives for Hogwarts and all of Britain's Wizarding World."

 _For more on the Altair Institute of Magic, see page 4_

 _For more on the various magical creatures attending Altair, see page 5_

 _For more on the Hogwarts students selected, see page 6, 7_

...

 _[August 29, 1994 :: Daily Prophet: Special Issue]_

 **GIRL-WHO-LIVED SPEAKS ABOUT OPPORTUNITY TO VISIT ALTAIR**

 _Daily Prophet, Rita Skeeter_

As we all know, twelve students of Hogwarts have received the opportunity to visit Altair Institute of Magic, including our very own Girl-Who-Lived. I was fortunate enough to obtain a brief interview with Callisto Potter as she shopped in Diagon Alley, today, and received incredible insight on her opinions of the opportunity.

"I think this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for the British community to understand people from different walks of life, including different races and species." the Girl-Who-Lived said with a smile.

As I questioned her one whether any of her friends were going to be at Altair with her, she nodded happily. "Luna Lovegood is one of my dearest friends, and we plan on learning as much as we can during the year we have been allowed to spend there. Susan Bones and Hannah Abbott are also good friends of mine. That I am looking forward to spending time with."

"I'm most looking forward to being able to experience an entirely different lifestyle. As I understand it, Altair Institute is far more than just a school and ends up being a community-a family friend described it as a 'family'-of incredibly powerful people. Graduates of Altair have created the most incredible spells and potions over the ages, and hold many impressive positions in governments and other positions of power." Callisto Potter explains.

When I asked her how she felt about being surrounded by dark creatures for an entire year, she frowned and made this comment. "We need to remember that the worst thing to happen to our wizarding community recently was [You-Know-Who], and he was assuredly human. If we still believe in humans after him, we should not judge other races by the actions of one or few."

 _For more on the life of Callisto Potter, see page 4_

 _For more on the year at Altair, see page 6_

 _For the full interview with Callisto Potter, see page 9_

 _..._


	5. Chapter 5

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _..._

… _.."Of course!" Callisto cried, still overplaying her want to participate,"I would be delighted to attend Altair for a year. All for the good of the Wizarding World, right?"..._

… _..The headmaster of Altair, Riveren Aizaguirre straightened his posture slightly, and his expression morphed to one of insistent sincerity, "We will, of course, welcome them with our very_ best _hospitality and ensure that they…_ enjoy _their time spent here." One of his eyebrows raised in a challenge, "We are the best, after all, and we_ must _show off." ….._

… _.."We need to remember that the worst thing to happen to our wizarding community recently was Voldemort, and he was assuredly human. If we still believe in humans after him, we should not judge other races by the actions of one or few."..._

…

 _Word count: 2,707_

 _[September 1, 1994 :: Apparition Point near the Altair Institute of Magic]_

The apparition point was just a clean grove of trees, where a few temporary benches had been placed. There were various time-delayed hexes and jinxes on them, but no one would ever be able to prove that. It was about 6:00 in the morning, with the 'exchange' students scheduled to arrive at 7:00, to be 'taken' to the school at 7:30.

That's what Alith Mercuriel had forwarded to the Hogwarts students, at least. In actuality, the students would be taken to the mouth of the valley in which Altair sat. However, Altair was at the very back of the valley, surrounded by a semi-circle of massive mountains that were far too steep to logically climb, with the entrance being over 200 kilometers away.

All new students to Altair Institute had to make their way to the official school building, avoiding magical beasts and traps around the valley, and the headmaster was not about to make an exception for the students from Hogwarts. If they died, they died. Riveren Aizaguirre was sincerely hoping none of them died, however, because that would just ruin a lot of the fun.

There were a few Altair students sitting in the surrounding trees already, hid under illusions or powerful invisibility spells that they knew very few, if not none of the adults that might come as well would be able to see through. They were there for an added challenge, though the students had been instructed to not do anything that could cause permanent harm.

The first year Altair students (who the youngest of which was 15, eldest 18, and already well versed in a lot of magic) had arrived a few days ago and were quickly prepared about the rare occurrence, and that it would likely never happen again. While that might cause some conflict, it would be fine soon enough.

For now, the various Altair students planning to follow the Hogwarts students were perched happily in trees, prepared for great amusement at the expense of the Brits. They had immediately created an open 'line' for telepathy, one that each Altair student could project thoughts to and have them heard by every student that was watching, and some of the Altair teachers as well.

Just then, the first _crack!_ of apparition sounding, two people appearing in the clearing. The older one, a male with scraggly black hair and grey eyes scanned the area, eyes only pausing slightly and one eyebrow rising when he was able to spot some of the hidden students. He was wearing traditional British wizarding lord robes, and one of the Altair students spotted the crest of the House of Black.

…. _That's Sirius Black, everybody….._ the vampire to see it, one Sei Varrick, projected, … _..meaning the little thing next to him is likely Callisto Potter, Girl-Who-Lived….._

The girl next to him was indeed little, with vibrant red hair pulled back into a single braid down her back and unnaturally green eyes. Her lips were quirked into a half smile as she looked around the clearing, eyes sometimes hesitating in the general areas of some of the students. Instead of having a trunk lay at her feet like the Altair students had honestly expected, she was wearing a dragonhide backpack that was spelled shut with a blood protection.

… _.She doesn't look like much, does she, Sei?..._ a different vampire-Reid Strelem-responded, slightly bemused.

… _.With all the talk about her, I'd expected her to give off a slightly powerful aura, at least…..._ a werewolf interjected.

… _.Ah, but see the band around her wrist? It's got a Black family crest on it…._ Sei explained quickly, … _.its purpose is to suppress her magical aura and calm her magic, though it doesn't suppress any of her magic, just her aura. Likely because of whatever she did to that Voldemort fellow…_

A portkey quickly pulled what the Altair students supposed were the muggleborn of the group. One of them had unimpressively bushy brown hair and an obnoxiously studious look about her. She had _two_ trunks laying on the floor next to her. She was wearing confining British wizarding robes, as well, which would just make it harder on her. The other was a shorter boy with blond hair who just had a cloth backpack alongside a smaller trunk than the female. He at least looked tolerable.

The bushy-haired girl perked up upon seeing Potter, and rushed towards her, only stopping when Potter backed away.

"I'd thank you very much to _stay away from me,_ Granger." Potter cut in icily, frowning at the other witch. Sirius Black put a comforting hand on Potter's shoulder and bared his teeth viciously at the witch Granger.

… _.Oooh…._ one of the Naga who had shifted into his serpent form and was curled around a high branch hissed through their minds. …... _We getssss to sssee a fight before term even ssstartss….._

… _.Shut up, Syrul….._ a more dislikable fae cut in … _.we don't need commentary from pesky reptiles, thank you very much….._

… _...We will sssee how you feel about sssnakess after I tear you to piecssesss…._

"Callie!" Granger cried in dismay, "I thought you'd gotten over this! I'm your best friend with Ron!"

"Granger, I don't think Potter has any reason to like you anymore." the younger wizard commented, looking slightly amused.

"Thanks, Justin." Potter smiled, "I'm _not_ your best friend, Granger. You decided that for me after you ditched me last year. I mean seriously, maybe if you cared to have a social life and not force everyone around you to do things they didn't want to do, you would have more friends than just _Weasley._ "

… _.That was less entertaining than I thought it would be….._ Reid commented, disappointed.

Just as Granger opened her mouth to retort, there were several more cracks of apparition as it neared 6:50, two families of blondes appearing in a snap, one an adult male and a younger female who immediately skipped towards Potter and hugged her with a happy squeal, and the other an adult woman and a sneering young man who just huffed in disdain as he took in who was there. The boy, who was wearing the Malfoy crest ( _...Draco Malfoy, then…_.an eager Altair student commented) and had three trunks at his feet, though the blonde female hugging Potter only carried a backpack.

Granger tried to speak again, no doubt making another foolish comment until she was interrupted once again by several snaps of apparition as everyone else arrived. A male with bright red hair made his way over to Granger after scowling in Potter's direction, while a female redhead and brunette made their way over to Potter.

Two boys appeared together, one a sandy-blonde with a permanent sneer and the other who had brown hair and a rather ordinary appearance. The one with brown hair looked like he didn't want to be anywhere near the blond as he edged slowly towards 'Justin' from earlier.

A boy and girl joined Malfoy in scowling disdainfully at their surroundings, occasionally making rude comments about one of the other Hogwarts students.

… _..The two with Potter is Susan Bones, the redhead, and Hannah Abbott…._ someone commented across the link, … _..the blonde practically attached to her is Luna Lovegood, I think. The gangly redhead and the bushy haired one are Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger….._

… _.How do you even know this, Gabel?..._ Reid asked, amused.

… _..Oh, shut up, Reid. Anyways, 'Justin' is Justin Finch-Fletchley, and the two with Malfoy is Blaise Zabini and Daphne Greengrass. The one trying to escape towards Finch-Fletchley is Terry Boot and the other one is Michael Corner. I think….._ Gabel finished smugly.

There was laughter heard over the link even as they watched worried parents say goodbye to their children before apparating away. Sirius Black turned towards the three girls with his goddaughter with a grin.

"You ready, kiddies? Because there's no turning back, and I expect all four of you to somehow endear yourselves to the professors at this school." He narrowed his eyes at them almost suspiciously, "If any of you come back before the year is out, I'll hex you until you can't see straight and you won't be back to normal for a month. You've been warned."

Potter laughed cheerfully, grinning at her guardian, "Of course, Paddy. We wouldn't dare disappoint the most humble Lord Black. Well, mostly I don't want to deal with mopey Remus withholding chocolate."

Black recoiled, one hand resting on his heart, "I'm offended! Lord Black? Never!" All of the girls laughed and said farewell as Black spun on one foot to disapparate.

… _..If Potter has a sense of humour, she might not be as insufferable as we first expected…._ someone mused across the link, … _.and she might allow academic interest in how she survived without much protest…._

… _..I think it would be funnier seeing her try to stop us from finding out what happened…._ one of the necromancers commented.

They watched as the pureblood group-Malfoy, Zabini and Greengrass, who ended up joined by Michael Corner-sneered disdainfully at the rest and sat on the benches, trying their best to look uptight and superior. Boot and Finch-Fletchley made their way closer to Potter's group, who accepted them with smiles. Granger and Weasley kept shooting pitiful and depressed looks towards Potter, who ignored them until they sat down on another one of the benches.

"Why don't we sit down too?" Finch-Fletchley asked Potter, who seemed to become the unofficial leader.

"Go right ahead, Justin, but don't come running to me when your arms turn into tentacles and your skin is red." Potter replied with a grin, "I had to learn quickly how to recognize hexes and jinxes when I was with Paddy and Moony, and those are some pretty nasty time delayed ones."

… _..At least she's not incompetent…_ Reid commented, … _..Are you ready for your introduction, Marcus, Reagan?..._

… _...Only always!..._ the two human siblings replied in unison, stepping out of the trees behind the pureblood group, raising unimpressed eyebrows as Malfoy let out a girly shriek as soon as he saw them.

"Good morning, kiddies." Marcus said with a cheeky grin, "I'm Marcus Lorenzo, and this is Reagan, my sister. We're going to show you the way to Altair."

Malfoy sneered at them, snapping out in annoyance. "So what, we aren't good enough for even a professor to come and show us?"

Marcus's eyes narrowed, and Reagan looked about to hex him. Reagan stepped forwards with a scowl, "No, you aren't. If you don't shut up, however, you won't be _making_ it to Altair, so I would be careful."

"What could you do?" Malfoy dug his hole deeper, "You can't kill us at Altair."

"I don't know if you haven't noticed, Malfoy," Potter interjected quickly, eyeing the two Altair students almost nervously, "but we aren't at Altair, yet. I'd hate to be the one to inform cousin Cissa of your utter incompetence."

"Oh, it'll be okay, Azalea. They don't have a wrackspurt infestation here. I'm sure Draco Malfoy will understand everything soon." one of Potter's friends said happily, making the girls around her cough subtly as they tried not to laugh.

"Shut up, Loony!" Malfoy shouted, turning to the speakers. "No one wants to know about your stupid made up-"

Halfway through his tirade, Reagan had already had enough and silenced him with a flick of her wand. Malfoy scowled but ended up fuming quietly instead of cursing her back as he recalled what Potter had said. Reagan and Marcus made their way a path towards the side that would lead to a trailhead they would leave them at. The only group smart enough to immediately shrink their trunks was Potter's, and they ended up easily transfiguring what almost looked like backpacks to carry them as they followed the Altair students. The other groups quickly followed their examples, though the purebloods complained until the Altair students were out of sight, clearly ignoring them.

Somehow, they couldn't even make decent backpacks to hold the shrunken trunks. Malfoy wanted his to look decorative, ending up only forming half of a backpack before Zabini snatched it from him to properly transfigure it before following the others. Weasley was just incompetent and had Granger do it for him.

…... _I wonder what a wrackspurt is…..._ someone mused over the link…. _or at least what she thinks a wrackspurt is…_

… _..It might be based on some sort of sight, maybe?..._

… _...She could just be crazy, you know….._

Lovegood skipped after the Lorenzos, only pausing to try and pick a _very poisonous_ flower-an incredibly beautiful magical version of the larkspur, that was poisonous mainly to animals but would still hurt humans-that would burn at the skin and quickly paralyse whoever touched it. Potter had immediately drawn her hands away from it, firmly telling her just what touching that plant would do to her causing the rest of the Hogwarts students to look slightly ill as they avoided touching any of the plants along the trail.

Lovegood just pouted after her until Potter picked out a flower that wasn't poisonous and handed it to her. It wasn't nearly as pretty, but at least it wouldn't kill her.

… _.She is probably just crazy…..._

When Marcus and Reagan reached the trailhead, they turned to the Hogwarts students with relaxed stances as they waited for them to catch up. The quickest was Lovegood, who was skipping still as she played with the flower, ignoring her surroundings. Next was Potter, who was watching Lovegood, making sure that she didn't do anything like try and touch another poisonous flower. After them were the muggleborns, and then slowly the rest of the group.

…... _I have doubtssss that they will reach the sssschool in time…_ Syrul commented, the naga seeming slightly disappointed at the revelation, …. _sssseeing how ssslow they move…_

… _...Mercuriel said that she was just going to give them two and a half days instead of the normal two….._ Reid answered the unspoken question …... _though she did mention that if any of them came later than that she would have Ircoriel take out his aggravation on them….._

… _...Don't even mention Ircoriel!…._ a human shot out….. _obviously the oldest vampire on staff would be promised idiotic Hogwarts students to play with, but that doesn't mean we want to hear about it!..._

… _...Both of you shut up…_ Marcus projected over them, … _..I'm about to tell them what they have to do, and I'm trying not to laugh my ass off at what will happen to the stuck-up purebloods when they don't make it on time…..._

Marcus was frowning at the Hogwarts students, whilst Reagan was having an impromptu staring contest with Lovegood who looked absolutely delighted to meet her. Potter's arm was around her wrist to make sure she didn't walk off dazedly and end up hurt, but her attention was focused on Marcus as he looked assessingly at all of them.

"Here's what is going to happen." Marcus started, eyes trailing over the high-class robes the purebloods wore, to the comfortable clothes Potter was wearing and the eye-catching yellow dress of Lovegoods. "You have two days to make it to Altair. It's about 200 kilometres away at the end of the valley," he gestured down the valley needlessly, "and we will give you compasses that point there. If you arrive any later than two and a half days from now, some of our teachers have been looking for humans to experiment on. There are all sorts of creatures in there that will happily tear you to pieces, and a lot of the plants are slightly poisonous as well. You aren't allowed to use brooms, and there are rocs and dragons that nest in the mountains who will gleefully eat you."

With a final look at the horrified expressions on most of the Hogwarts students, the serene one on Lovegood and the slightly excited one on Potter, he nodded and dropped a bag full of compasses. "Good luck."

 _Note: 200 kilometres is about 125 miles_


	6. Chapter 6

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _..._

…..." _Here's what is going to happen." Marcus started, "You have two days to make it to Altair. It's about 200 kilometres away at the end of the valley," he gestured down the valley needlessly, "and we will give you compasses that point there. If you arrive any later than two and a half days from now, some of our teachers have been looking for humans to experiment on. There are all sorts of creatures in there that will happily tear you to pieces, and a lot of the plants are slightly poisonous as well. You aren't allowed to use brooms, and there are rocs and dragons that nest in the mountains who will gleefully eat you."..._

…" _Good luck."..._

 _..._

 _Word Count: 2,182_

 _[September 1, 1994 :: Trailhead at the mouth of Altair Valley]_

"What!" Draco Malfoy shouted, silencing spell wearing off with his disappearance, "This is an outrage! I won't walk 200 kilometres for this silly school! I am a pureblood student from Hogwarts! I am above this!"

Luna giggled and seemed to glide over to where the compasses had been dropped, scooping up four of them before returning to Callisto, who was smiling at her and holding Susan' hand comfortingly. As Luna gave the compasses to the other three, Callisto drew in a calming breath.

"If we have two days-that's 48 hours-we have about 30 to 35 hours to walk 200 kilometres, and I don't think we want to be out in a valley full of nasty beasties for longer than we have to." Callisto grinned, "Let's get going, girls."

They moved away from the rest of the Hogwarts students, Justin and Terry looking a bit forlorn at the abandonment even as they moved to Weasley and Granger with the offer of joining them until they made it to the school. Malfoy and his group were standing, complaining loudly about the unfairness even as Callisto and her friends started down one of the trails, following Luna's lead.

Callisto quickly transfigured her companions clothes into comfortably fitting hiking clothes, changing their shoes into boots and cloaks into tight jackets even as she fired off protection charms at the backpacks they were wearing.

"Paddy and Moony made sure I had a lot of things in my backpack. They made some adjustments to the tent we used at the Quidditch World Cup, adding more warding and all that. I'm fairly certain there's food in there as well, now that I think about it." Callisto said readily as her group made their way further down one of the trails. "Luna, did Xeno leave you with one of your expedition tents?"

"I told daddy that the wrackspurts thought I needed a tent, and he made sure I had the best one." Luna said cheerfully, "Maybe we'll get to see a crumple horned snorkack here!"

"Maybe," Susan said, coming out of her worry about the _creatures that will happily tear you to pieces_ part, figuring that if anyone knew how to get past them, it was Callisto, with her odd experience with all sorts of bad things.

"Do you think there are werewolves here?" Hannah asked worriedly, earning a slightly annoyed and disappointed look from Callisto.

"Werewolves are only dangerous on the full moon." Callisto said snidely, "Well, I mean _wolf_ dangerous, Moony is dangerous year round, but he's also a fully trained wizard. Didn't I tell you this before, Hannah? I didn't think you suffered from the same discrimination as most witches."

"Sorry, Azzie, but mum's been going on about all the dark creatures and-"

"Just because they aren't human doesn't mean they aren't people." Callisto interrupted, "I just mean that there will be a lot of dangerous things at Altair, but…" she paused as the trail they were on veered right towards the sides of one of the mountains, stepping over some of the bigger rocks, "but those dangerous things shouldn't be because of the fact that they aren't human."

"I don't think that was explained well, Azzie," Susan commented, amused.

"Oh hush, Susie. I mean that yes, vampires are more dangerous because they'll want to drink your blood, and succubi-er, _incubi,_ I suppose, as those are more dangerous-will try to eat your life force-"

"I thought that was s-sexual energies." Hannah interrupted, face flushing red as she remembered what she had read about incubi.

"Not exactly, it's more life force and youth, honestly, though I think Remus mentioned sexual energies too." Now Callisto was blushing, as well, "I avoided that topic when Remus was explaining it. What I'm saying is that they mainly have a _reason_ for attacking you, and oh _Merlin_ that's a really big cliff."

It was a really big cliff. Without really noticing, the four girls had climbed partially up the side of one of the gigantic mountains that ringed the valley, and now the trail went along the side of a _gigantic_ cliff, that was higher than most of the huge trees in the middle of the valley. It was like looking at a field of deadly giants, dark green treetops only broken for massive pools of water, or meadows filled vibrant flowers that broke up the green of the trees with yellows, reds and violets. The mountains at the other side of the valley had to be over 100 kilometres away, massive heaps of rocks and trees that reached so high that the tops had a constant dusting of icy snow.

It was as if just now they had realized they weren't in England anymore. They had no idea where they were, exactly, and the diversity of trees didn't help much. Nor did seeing an absolutely massive Romanian Longhorn tear a roc out of the sky and _eat it._ The dragon had to be extremely old for it to have grown so long, but watching it tear apart a bird the size of a fighter jet mid-air did not help the temporary calm that Susan and Hannah had reached.

There were other dragons, in the distance as well. It was rare enough to see one dragon, but several dragons occupying a close territory? That was practically unheard of. But the dragons and rocs weren't all the magical wildlife in the area. There were other birds with gleaming feathers of a multitude of colours; reds, blues, greens and silvers flying from tree to tree, a constant song a haunting melody for their ears.

There was a long howl of a canine, the occasional shriek of _something,_ the roar of a big cat as they stalked prey. Callisto watched in fascination as antelope shot across the meadow before stragglers were brought down by a pack of wolves-the ones that must have been howling earlier. It was a beautiful sight, though it contained the daunting realization that they were in an entirely new world. At Hannah's shout of "Over there!" they turned to see a small herd of beautiful unicorns at the edge of one of the meadows.

By _Magic,_ it was beautiful. Callisto turned to Luna, whose dreamy expression had been replaced by something a little more awe-filled as she grinned. "Seen a crumple-horned snorkack yet, moonbeam?"

Luna beamed back at her, "Silly Azalea, crumple-horned snorkacks don't hang out on mountainsides! They much prefer meadows and fields."

"Of course, silly me." Callisto laughed as she shot another breathless look at the massive valley before tugging on Luna's hand to get her to follow. "Come on, girls! We've still got a long ways to go!"

They didn't encounter a lot of problems for a good 4 hours as they walked across the side of the cliff, but they had finally reached the end of the cliff trail after walking underneath aa immense waterfall and had to figure out how to pass the massive, looping river.

"Why don't we just make a boat and row on it?" Hannah suggested nervously. After shooting her a glance, Callisto frowned. "That honestly sounds like an alright idea, but I have the feeling there's something not good in the water. My magic is freaking out over it."

Luna also looked hesitant to go anywhere near the water. She was frowning, which was odd enough on its own, but she had also taken her wand out from behind her ear and was holding it tensely in one hand as she watched the area. Callisto's own wand fell smoothly into her right hand even as she touched her left to where she had hidden a knife. She was nowhere near good with a knife, but Remus had taught her how to stab something and deflect basic attacks with it.

Susan followed her example next, training she had received from her Aunt as Head of the DMLE showing as her stance shifted, Hannah following their example a second later.

" _Revelius"_ Callisto breathed with a flick of her wrist. The area seemed to glow for a moment before the shapes of _something_ showed in the water.

"Are those beavers?" Hannah asked nervously.

"Yes, if beavers had fangs and spiked tails. I didn't even know something like that existed. Merlin, something like that _shouldn't_ exist." Callisto hissed, carefully edging towards a possible river crossing further down, "Make a bridge, would you? Luna, watch the devil-beaver, please."

Unfortunately, the instant they laid a transfigured plank across the river, the beavers turned around and started swimming towards it. Fast.

"Back up, back up!" Callisto ushered them all backwards, closer to the trees as she flicked up a shield behind and in front of them, making sure to cover all of the bases. It was good she did, too, as the vines curling around the tree tried to reach for them, only to be halted by the barrier.

"Susan, burn as much of the ground in the shield as you can without killing us" Callisto ordered, watching slightly appalled as the beavers _ate_ the plank of wood they had placed over the river, before seeming to look for where it had come from. Just before the devil-beavers saw them, Hannah flicked a spell out of the shield, a simple _reducto_ that brought down a tree across the water, which the beavers rushed off to eat.

The vines had almost completely wrapped around the shield, and Callisto made sure all the girls were ready to move before dropping the shield and rushing towards the river. One of the vines wrapped around Hannah's ankle as they ran, causing Susan to hurl a _diffindo_ at it, only for it to be deflected off the vines rough exterior.

"Transfigure rocks, you two." Callisto ordered, before bringing her wand up before twisting it and quickly crying " _Inflagrate!"_

She watched as the fire just barely burnt through the vine, helping Hannah to her feet before helping Susan and Luna transfigure a rock path across the river. " _Move!"_ she hissed as soon as it was complete, and they hurried across the river, Callisto dissolving the transfigurations just as one of the devil-beavers noticed them.

The thing _shrieked_ , catching the attention of the rest of the beavers, which started swimming towards the girls quickly. "Run, dammit!" Callisto cried as her company just stared, startling them into running. "If you see the vine things, burn them, and avoid any creatures because _they might have claws and spikes!"_

They ran down the trail, Susan going first with the second most experience with defensive spells, Callisto at the back, occasionally split second transfiguring things that looked a little like trees behind them to confuse the devil-beavers that were _still following them._

"Crossroads coming up!" Susan shouted worriedly.

"Luna! Check the compass, or figure which one is best!" Callisto called back, experimentally flinging a _stupefy_ at the devil-beavers, and grimacing when it was just deflected off of their fur.

"Go right!" Luna responded, and Susan followed the directions immediately, all four girls rushing to the right. They were apparently far enough away from the river for the devil-beavers to stop chasing them… or they were in a different creatures territory. Callisto desperately hoped it was the first, even as she twirled her wand in a circle with a quick _Revelius_ once again.

 _...Hey, did any of you know that the, as Potter put it, "devil beavers" existed?..._ one of the watching Altair students wondered ….. _because I didn't know they existed….._

… _..They don't….._ a slightly concerned fae answered him …. _at least, they didn't. I'll tell one of the teachers…_

… _..Very interesting…_ Reid mused, the vampire slightly impressed despite himself …. _..These four are doing a lot better than the other groups, they're what, 38 kilometres in? It's been just over 6 hours, the others are barely 25 kilometres in…._

… _...They chose the right path, though…._ Marcus commented … _...That one will keep you mostly safe the whole cliffside, and then there was the river-I didn't know it had, er, devil-beavers in it, but it's still safer. They've got the Sphinx to deal with now, though…_

… _.Yes, but the ditzy blonde one-Lovegood-seems to have some sort of enhanced sight. She didn't even look at her compass before picking right. The two other paths would have gotten them lost for at least a few hours…_ a fae picked up the conversation …... _Though, I admit to being impressed with how spectacularly that Malfoy boy got hurt. I mean really, clawed by an upset hawk? It was barely even magical….._

… _..Well, we'll see, Potter still has the Sphinx, it's Lethifold after, right? Yeah, well they have Lethifolds, and I have my doubts little 14 and 15-year-olds can cast a Patronus-we might have to help them out, there-a surprise one of the combat teachers picked out, and then there's also the hippogriff herd-few know how to deal with those properly-just on this path….._ Marcus pointed out, … _..at least they are much less hopeless than poor, mutilated Malfoy….._


	7. Chapter 7

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _..._

…..." _Here's what is going to happen." Marcus started, "You have two days to make it to Altair. It's about 200 kilometers away at the end of the valley," he gestured down the valley needlessly, "and we will give you compasses that point there. If you arrive any later than two and a half days from now, some of our teacher have been looking for humans to experiment on. There are all sorts of creatures in there that will happily tear you to pieces, and a lot of the plants are slightly poisonous as well. You aren't allowed to use brooms, and there are rocs and dragons that nest in the mountains who will gleefully eat you."..._

… _..Well, we'll see, Potter still has the Sphinx, it's Lethifold after, right? Yeah, well they have Lethifolds, and I have my doubts little 14 and 15 year olds can cast a patronus-we might have to help them out, there-a surprise one of the combat teachers picked out, and then there's also the hippogriff herd-few know how to deal with those properly-just on this path… at least they are much less hopeless than poor, mutilated Malfoy….._

…

 _Word Count: 2,555_

 _[September 1, 1994 :: About 160 kilometers from Altair Institute of Magic]_

" _Go right!" Luna responded, and Susan followed the directions immediately, all four girls rushing to the right. They were apparently far enough away from the river for the devil-beavers to stop chasing them… or they were in a different creatures territory. Callisto desperately hoped it was the first, even as she twirled her wand in a circle with a quick_ Revelius _once again._

They moved slowly down the path, taking the opportunity to quickly transfigure cups and fill them with an _Aguamenti,_ drinking quickly before dropping the transfiguration. They walked a lot slower. 6 hours had passed since they started hiking, and they had gone just about 40 kilometers, or so Hannah figured with quick math.

"With that math, we have 42 hours to walk 160 kilometers or so…. That's not bad." Callisto mused, "Let's just keep going, then?"

The four walked peacefully for quite some time, occasionally having to burn through clingy vines, or pause for different magical beasts to cross the narrow path. Nothing had really attacked them, however, which was rather thankful. Soon enough, however, we reached a massive chasm I hadn't noticed before, with a single bridge going across the middle, a beautiful female Sphinx curled in front of it.

Callisto turned to her friends with a raised eyebrow before stepping forwards and bowing towards the Sphinx. While not at all required, it was good to be respectful. After the three girls with her had followed her example (Luna adding a curtsy) the Sphinx stood slowly, standing in front of the entrance to the bridge.

"Stop!" the Sphinx commanded dramatically, "Who would cross the Bridge of... Death must answer me these questions three, ere the other side he-er, she- see." (1)

Callisto vaguely recognized that from somewhere, and after realizing where from nearly giggled. "Ask me the questions three, Bridgekeeper. I am not afraid."

It was _extremely_ difficult not to laugh at the bemused expressions on her companions, or the beaming smile on Susan's face as she remembered the movie Callisto and her guardians had taken her to see.

" _What_ is your name?" the Sphinx boomed, happier now that someone recognized where it was from. A lot of the students before hadn't, and she was rather gleeful that someone finally had.

"Callisto Potter-Black." she answered cheerfully, "But, Bridgekeeper, I thought the rule was one question for passage."

The Sphinx _pouted,_ "Hmph, I hate it when your prey is knowledgeable. Can we continue anyways?"

Callisto appeared to think about it, then nodded and allowed the Sphinx to act out the rest of the phrase.

" _What_ is your quest?" the Sphinx continued gracefully.

"To seek the… er… Institute of Magic."

With a regal nod, the Sphinx asked the third question, " _What_ is your favorite color?"

"Green."

"Right. Off you go." the Sphinx moved to the side to allow Callisto to pass.

"But Bridgekeeper, if one question grants one person passage, would it not be right for you to allow three of us to pass?" Callisto bargained carefully, making sure to be careful with how much she pressed. She was fairly certain, after all, that none of her companions knew the capital of Assyria.

"It appears you have a point, little human." the Sphinx grouched, "Fine, then, I will give one of you a proper riddle. Who would like to answer?"

"Ooh!" Luna skipped forward eagerly, "Pick me! The wrackspurts tell me all kinds of silly riddles."

The Sphinx raised an eyebrow, but nodded regally. "A boy has as many brothers as he does sisters, but each sister has only half as many sisters as she does brothers. How many brothers and sisters are there in the family?"

Callisto frowned-she had never been good with riddles, the sheer amount of time she had spent figuring out "spider" during the maze enough testament to that-as she tried to figure out the answer. Hannah looked just as confused, though Susan at least seemed to understand what the question was asking. Luna, though, seemed to get it right away.

"Why, four and three, of course." Luna replied happily, "It was very nice to meet you Miss Sphinx! Maybe I can visit?"

The sphinx smiled as she gestured the four across the bridge. Thankfully, the bridge wasn't the rickety mess that appeared in horror movies, but a simple, sturdy, wood plank bridge that crossed a chasm that seemed to go down forever. It was safe enough, and Hannah-who was usually afraid of heights-wasn't too terrified, though she clung tightly to Susan's arm the entire time-, knowing it's relative safety.

They continued on, Luna still skipping cheerfully, good mood restored by the riddle exchange with a Sphinx. Callisto and Luna, being the only two to regularly go on long trips (well, Callisto just having experience running and exercising for long period of time) were still full of energy about an hour later, though by then Susan and Hannah were getting more and more tired, and hungrier, don't forget that.

So, once they got to a relatively open area where you could see further around, they stopped for lunch. It was about 3 in the afternoon by now, and they all were quite a bit hungry. Sitting down, they pulled out whatever food they had. Well, it should be said, whatever food Luna and Callisto had brought.

Remus thankfully had the urge to mother-hen Callisto, and had made a dozen sandwiches before putting them under stasis, informing her that she _must_ eat them sooner or later. Callisto just hoped that they weren't hexed or something

"Are these safe to eat?" Susan asked, slightly concerned when she realized one of Callisto's guardians must have made them.

"They better be." Callisto said darkly, "Or I'll get Kreacher to poison them or something."

They thankfully _were_ safe to eat, and the four girls rested for about an hour, pulling off their boots and socks to put healing cream on the blisters that were all over the bottom of their feet. After they were at least reasonably painless, they wrapped them in cloth before putting their shoes back on, ready to keep going.

"How about we keep going until 9 or ten in the afternoon before sleeping?" Susan suggested.

"Wouldn't it be better to wait and see if we get tired before then?" Hannah asked thoughtfully, looking up at the sun high in the sky.

"I guess…" Susan said, pouting when her idea got shot down.

"Come on, girls! For-er… for Hogwarts!" Callisto cried dramatically, setting off purposely towards the trees. Luna echoed her powerful battle cry and skipped after her, leaving Susan and Hannah to exchange a glance, _this_ was what they would have to deal with on a regular basis from now on.

"For Hogwarts." Susan muttered, already resigned to the insanity of Callisto and Luna.

The further they walked into the forest, the denser and darker it became. Callisto couldn't help but be reminded of the time Weasley had goaded her into going to the Acromantula colony deep in the forest. Grimacing in remembrance, she flicked her wand with a quiet " _Lumos solem"_ and watched as the orb of light zoomed out in front of them. Her companions repeated the spell, and soon there were four orbs of glowing light hovering ahead, behind and to either side of them.

"Can any of you cast body shields?" Callisto asked carefully, remembering the rather painful lesson Remus had given her on it. She'd been bruised for days afterwards, and complaining to Sirius just got him to laugh at her. Annoying mutt.

"Auntie talked about it before, but I don't know the spell." Susan responded, glancing through the trees carefully. Whenever Callisto got worried enough to cast preemptive shields, it was usually a good idea to copy her. After receiving two "no's" from Luna and Hannah, Callisto sighed in resignation.

"Right. The spell is ' _armum corpus'_ and it basically means 'body shield.' It will create a thin shield around your body-the more magic you put into it the stronger it will be-but you can power it without recasting the spell. Unfortunately, you can't hold the spell and cast offensively at the same time. The lights will be fine, but no other spells." Callisto lectured quietly, "Try it."

" _Armum corpus"_ the four girls murmured in unison, Callisto's shield appearing instantly, but the rest of theirs flickering out immediately. It looked like Callisto was glowing with a blue aura, though they knew it was actually the shield.

" _Armum corpus!"_ they tried again, Susan's shield held, but it took the other two a few more tries to get it.

"Alright, if something attacks us, push more of your magic into the spell. It will block a little physically, though it will still hurt. We have to watch each other's back, remember?"

"Yes Mistress Azzie Potter!" Susan said dramatically, Hannah giggling after her. Callisto sent her an amused look before they started moving once again. The peaceful, slightly disturbing silence didn't last for long, though. The little sunlight that had been peeking through the treetops all but vanished, and an odd, creeping cold slipped around their senses, dimming a lot of the light.

In the trees, something let out an odd chattering sound, dark shapes moving smoothly through the trees. As their circling grew closer, the cold grew deeper and their senses seemed to blur, a sort of tired sadness encroaching on them.

" _Shit!"_ Callisto cried, "They have to be lethifolds-I know the feeling of dementors are by heart. Luna, I know you have decently corporeal patronus, and you'll have to cast it on the count of three. Hannah, Susan, try to make a patronus, but if you can't, light things on fire!"

"3…" one of the lethifolds came closer, and Callisto directed her _lumos_ at it, watching it shy away, "2…" the chittering was a lot louder now, and the girls felt their joints freeze slightly as they watched the haunting cloak-like creatures approach, "1…" one of the lethifolds seemed to _scream,_ and the four girls let out a gasp of fright even as Callisto shouted " _NOW!"_

" _EXPECTO PATRONUM!"_ they all shouted at once, though only Callisto's escaped her wand first try. Instead of the stag it was in third year, her patronus was a mix between a grim and a wolf, representing her guardians and their promise to always protect her. The canine seemed to glow with fury as it saw what was happening, snarling as it lunged towards the closest lethifolds.

Susan and Luna kept casting the spell, only relaxing slightly as Luna's hare patronus escaped. Susan kept trying for a moment before giving in and forming a shield around them. All four of their body-shields had disappeared, and Hannah quickly gave up on casting the patronus and lit a ring of fire around the four girls.

" _Expecto patronum!"_ Callisto shouted again, a stag escaping her wand this time, just as livid as the grim-wolf that had appeared earlier.

It was only minutes until the patroni had scared the lethifolds off, Callisto's stag leading the way further down the path, _lumos_ orbs long forgotten. Callisto seemed to stagger with exhaustion, Hannah quickly propping her up as the two other girls seemed just a little too tired to do so. They followed the stag patronus until the trees started to clear, and most of the patroni faded away, leaving only the grim-wolf.

The girls quickly realized that they had lost a lot of time in the forest as they watched the sky dim to dusk, sun already vanished behind the mountains. " _Tempus."_ Susan cast for them, the words quickly forming: _7:48 PM._

"Check the compass." Hannah suggested as they went to the middle of the area vacant of trees, where there was a slight rise in the ground that would be a good spot to rest for the night. Callisto obviously wasn't planning on going anywhere, as her eyes were half-glazed from magical exhaustion, her grim-wolf prowling the perimeter with a growl.

The compass thankfully pointed away from the forest they had exited, and all of the girls let out a sigh of relief.

"How about we rest here for awhile-we get to sleep, though someone should keep guard. It's basic strategy, as Paddy would say." Callisto muttered, some of the words tangling together.

"Right. Your tent, Azzie?" Susan grabbed it as Callisto pulled it out of her bag. "Hannah, would it be alright if you kept first watch? Just for two hours. No offense, but you didn't cast a patronus, and that was the first time mine was corporeal."

Hannah nodded, not offended in the least as the three girls quickly went inside of the slightly expanded tent, falling asleep almost immediately. She cast a _tempus,_ "7:55" she read aloud, looking around. She blinked slightly at seeing the grim-wolf patronus of Callisto's still hovering around, patrolling the area. _Well,_ she figured, _at least I won't be lonely._

 _..._

… _..Did I just see what I think I saw?..._ Marcus asked, slightly awed.

… _..If you just saw a-what is she? 14? 15?..._ Reid thought for a moment … _.She's 15-years-old with a corporeal patronus. Not to mention the Lovegood girl, who is 14…._

… _.From their conversation it sounds a little like Potter taught Lovegood how to make a patronus, though…._ a fae argued … _.If that's so, she would've probably been younger than 14 when she learned it….._

… _..In the righteous fury that is Ircoriel in a mood, that has to be impossible!..._

… _..Did you just curse by one of our teachers?..._ Marcus said amused ….. _One of our vampire teachers for that matter?_

… _..Back off, Marcus!..._

… _.Let's get back to the fact that a_ fifteen-year-old girl _just made_ TWO _corporeal patroni at the same time!..._ Reid practically shouted over the link … _.Granted, she passed out pretty quick afterwards, but she made two patroni at the same time!..._

… _..Wait, Potter made two corporeal patroni at the same time?..._ Marcus's sister Reagan asked … _.I've been watching Weasley and the group he's with totally freak out after practically falling into a baby wyvern nest, and then getting chased off by the momma….._

… _..Reagan it was_ beautiful _! Potter made this great grim-wolf, looked a little like a werewolf, actually, and then made a_ second _stag just afterwards!..._ Marcus said in delight _...Potter is just getting more and more interesting, the more we learn, the more utterly delightful she seems! Humour, power, intelligence, she's just incredible!..._

… _.Marcus I hope you don't have a crush on her. She's 15, and you're 19, you dirty perv….._ Reagan said in disgust.

…. _No! Reagan, I have a girlfriend! A perfectly, possessive werewolf of a girlfriend, who I think would likely maul me if she thought I had a crush on someone!..._ Marcus objected, terrified, … _.it's just that this girl, who went to Hogwarts, one of the schools who doesn't teach their students anything, knows how to produce_ two _corporeal patroni and who just-she just-she defeated a reasonably powerful wizard, and no one knows how she did it!..._

… _..I won't tell Lirienne you said that….._ Reagan returned gleefully.

… _..Thanks….._

….

This is a slightly modified quote from "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," I rather thought it fit.


	8. Chapter 8

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

 _..._

 **Okay, here goes me freaking out for a moment. OH MY GOD I HAVE OVER 1,500 VIEWS AND ALMOST 30 FAVORITES AND AHHHH! Alright. Okay. *freaks out some more***

 **Right. To everyone who has reviewed: Thank you so much! It means a lot that you enjoy my story, and took the time to share it with me. It's amazing to know that people are like what I write and will take the time to tell me so.**

 **Alright, I have to go freak out some more.**

 **~InsubstancialCookies**

…

… _..Well, we'll see, Potter still has the Sphinx, it's Lethifold after, right? Yeah, well they have Lethifolds and then there's the hippogriff herd-few know how to deal with those properly-just on this path… at least they are much less hopeless than poor, mutilated Malfoy….._

… _..Hannah nodded, not offended in the least as the three girls quickly went inside of the slightly expanded tent, falling asleep almost immediately. She cast a tempus, "7:55" she read aloud, looking around. She blinked slightly at seeing the grim-wolf patronus of Callisto's still hovering around, patrolling the area._ Well _, she figured,_ at least I won't be lonely…

… _._

 _[Word Count: 2,300]_

 _[September 1, 1994 :: On a trail somewhere near the Altair Institute of Magic]_

 _~[OR :: Draco annoys a bird and gets mauled]~_

"Draco! Don't walk _into_ the suspiciously quiet circle of trees!" Blaise Zabini shouted at his companion as they wandered away from Daphne Greengrass and Michael Corner, for once breaking his rule of being quiet, "Damn it! Draco!"

Draco did indeed walk straight into the suspiciously quiet area, wand at the ready as he looked around furiously, "Shut _up,_ Blaise! Does it look like I care? It's noon and nothing has happened yet except having to hike, something that it so far beneath me that it's worse than having to associate with mudbloods!" He spun around, snarling at Blaise in agitation, "It's not like _you_ would understand! Your family isn't as-argh!"

He turned and kicked a tree, furious with how that bastard Marcus had pushed him into doing this… this _hike!_ Except-as Draco realized quickly-kicking a tree _really hurts_. Draco cradled his foot, accidentally dropping his wand as an irate screech echoed from the tree above.

"Draco, move!" Blaise ordered, "I don't know what thing you just pissed off, but it sounds upset." As Draco very obviously didn't listen, shouting curses at the top of his lungs as he bemoaned how absolutely _terrible_ his life was now that he was forced to go to this school full of in-human monsters. Another screech came from the tree above Draco, this one louder and even more annoyed.

" _I_ didn't even want to come!" Draco cried, over the screeches of an enraged _something_ , "But mummy told me I should, that it would help the Malfoy name and we would be able to get over father's death and-" Draco sobbed, 5 hours wandering a forest with only mundane creatures being seen taking its toll.

Blaise edged away slowly, "Right… once you get over it, or, you know, attacked by whatever you upset, I'll be waiting with Daphne and Corner."

Blaise turned tail and ran, quickly going back to Daphne Greengrass and Michael Corner, waiting with them on the little lump of rocks they had found.

Draco wrapped his arms around himself as he sniffled, looking absolutely miserable and extremely improper for a pureblood, but _come on_ , he was sad. Finally realising that in the silence left by Blaise's departure and his own stifling sobs that there was screeches of an upset bird of some kind, Draco looked around warily, eyeing the trees, when _BAM!_

"AAAAaaaaahh!" Draco screamed, an irate hawk clawing at the face of the wailing monkey-thing that had disrupted her nest, drawing blood. The monkey-thing was too big to be prey, but it was being annoying and- " _AAAaaAAHHhH!_ BLAISE _HELP!"_ Draco shouted, flailing wildly at whatever had attacked him.

The hawk's beak cut as his face even as his talons tore into the skin on the monkey-things face. The annoying monkey-thing was surprisingly weak, the hawk having noticed that the not-prey monkey-things were much stronger than this annoying one. This _stupid_ annoying monkey-thing was still wailing more than a newborn chick, calling for something apparently.

Blaise showed up, and after pausing in a sort of fascinated horror, quickly threw spells at the hawk, driving it away from Draco's face and back up into the tree. Blaise picked up Draco's wand as he rushed forwards, flicking some of the basic healing spells at his face cautiously. He tugged on Draco's wrist to pull him to where Daphne was, knowing that her father had been a healer and would probably know how to fix Draco's bleeding face.

"Draco, by Merlin are you an idiot." Blaise sighed, resigned to having blood on his own robes as Draco tried desperately to do something about the long gashes across his face, "Just wait until we get to Daphne…"

…

… _.There's no way that actually just happened…._ Sei projected across the link, having been watching the pureblood group as Potter made her way along the cliffside. … _...I mean, I know I just watched it happen, but… he just-he just got clawed by a hawk!…_

That seemed to break the disbelief in the rest of the Altair students watching their group as they burst into raucous laughter over the link, cackling as they realized just how pathetic one of their new guests were.

… _...Don't forget the in-human monster comment, Sei…_ a still disbelieving Reagan reminded the non-humans of the group, … _...I didn't like him before, and I like him even less, now….._

...

 _[September 2, 1994 :: About 90 kilometers from Altair Institute of Magic]_

Susan flicked her wand again, the glowing letters appearing in an instant. " _3:47 AM"_ they read, and Susan grimaced. Hannah had been on watch for four hours, from eight until midnight before waking Susan to take her place. She had started to get tired an hour ago, and was only glad that she would be able to wake Callisto up to take her shift in just a few minutes. The only protection against the cold was Callisto's grim-wolf that was somehow _still_ hovering around the edges protectively. The blue glow he gave off one of the few things Susan was glad about in the middle of the night.

It was dark, it was cold, and as she looked around all she saw was empty treelines and shadows of animals as they avoided the patronus. Earlier, there had at least been a strange owl that glowed the same silver as the half moon that had risen over the mountains earlier in the night. That moon at least lit up some of the surrounding area, including the _person sneaking around the woods._ They hadn't been there a moment ago.

" _Tintinabula"_ Susan hissed, wand pointed inside of the tent as an invisible bell seemed to chime inside, barely loud enough for Susan to hear. It was the spell her Auntie had always used to wake her up, and it was efficient even at terrible times in the morning. Susan vaguely heard Hannah groan as she was woken with less than four hours of sleep, getting to her feet anyways as Callisto helped them rise. Callisto peered out of the tent at Susan, who was looking around as if she hadn't just woken them before looking down at Susan's hands, seeing her walk the fingers of one hand up the forearm of the other. To anyone else it would look like a nervous gesture, but it was a signal the girls had worked out years ago.

In Hogwarts, whenever they were sneaking around and doing things they shouldn't they would use hand signs to make sure no one got caught. This one-walking the fingers of one hand up the forearm of the opposite-meant that someone was coming. There were others for " _prat coming_ and " _cute boy"_ even, and some actually useful ones as well.

Callisto, fully over whatever magical exhaustion had put her to sleep earlier, flicked her wrist to let out her wand (a gift from Madam Bones a few Christmases ago) and summoned her invisibility cloak from her bag, even as she repacked the few things she had needed from her bag with a swish of her hand.

"Either of you know Disillusionment spells?" Callisto whispered to the two girls still inside the tent. Seeing them shake their heads in negative, she handed them the cloak and disillusioned herself, just as Remus had taught her.

"What about the tent?" Hannah asked, concerned, "Or footsteps? Susan mentioned that her auntie could find invisible people with them."

"The tent counts as a Black heirloom now-something Paddy did, for sure" Callisto's disembodied voice answered them, "It won't let anyone in, and if it's empty for 24 hours it will return to the last Black who held it-me-given their alive."

Hannah tried to exchange a glance with Luna, only to see her fastening a second cork necklace she had pulled from her bag over the first, and replacing the turnip earrings she had earlier with ones of cork, as well. "Luna," Hannah groaned, "can your necklaces wait?"

"Oh, no!" Luna replied, voice sounding rather concerned, "See, nargles can see through invisibility spells, and my necklace repels nargles, so it will keep me safe!"

"Right. Come here, Luna," Hannah pulled them both under the invisibility cloak, vanishing quickly, "The footsteps, Azzie?"

"Eh." Callisto dismissed the question, "Potter-Black secret. One of my talents will deal with it, I'll tell you later, now come on, let's _go."_

Callisto wasn't about to share all of her tricks with them, even if they were her best friends. That trick in particular was one only Sirius knew about, as the two had kept it from Remus "for the sake of future pranks." Illusions. Semi-tangible, and occasionally _actually_ tangible nearly flawless illusions. Callisto didn't even have to really think about them anymore, she would just ask her magic to hide something, or make something change and have her magic respond immediately.

After Sirius had seen how incredible even an extremely basic illusion Callisto had made looked, he had given her all of the legal, barely-legal and even illegal books the Blacks owned on Illusion Magic. Some of them were grimoires from Blacks (and other families the Blacks had conquered at one point or another) and others spell books on different ways to cast illusions. That had been at the end of third year, when Callisto had cast a slightly hazy illusion in place of Buckbeak before the ministry officials saw, and Callisto had practiced illusion magic since then in an almost obsessive manner.

It paid off quickly, Callisto was _good_ with illusions. While she didn't quite have the sheer power needed to make an illusion fully tangible, or do sound and smell illusions very well, and certainly couldn't hold an illusion for a long time yet, she could direct her magic to make something look a certain way with ease, and that was exactly what she did now.

She disillusioned Susan just as she created a merely visual illusion in her place, and rushed them down the trail, masking their movement immediately after they stepped somewhere. The illusions would hold for at least two hours without her directly powering them with her magic.

The four girls were silent as they moved, Luna somehow knowing exactly where Callisto and Susan were even though they were disillusioned and Callisto inherently knowing where _her_ invisibility cloak was at all times. They managed to get away with this method, walking slower than they had been for nearly two hours before whatever had been near the campsite caught up to them.

" _Come out, come out whereeeee-ver you aree~!"_ the person sung from a while down the trail, cackling quietly. Callisto couldn't help but think it was a stupid method if he was actually hunting them, as he had immediately given his position away (not that they hadn't realized he was there, it was just by principle) and the fact that he just waved his wand in circles as his eyes studied the area near the four girls.

" _Shut up, John."_ another person muttered as he followed behind the first, four others following behind him. They all had dark cloaks and looked like they were only holding wands for weapons, " _We're getting paid good money to do this, so just shut up and do your job."_

Callisto was infinitely glad there was only six of them as she touched Susan's arm with the intent to tell her when to fight. She laid three fingers on her arm, then two, ~ " _They should be just over-"~_ one finger… _now._

" _Reducto!_ " Callisto called, curse destroying the ground at 'John's' feet. " _Concussus!"_ Susan cried at the just after her, the spell having similar effects to a flashband and blinding the two in front as the back two staggered back.

Two of the people managed to send off cutting curses that were easily deflected by Susan while Callisto quickly figured out a simple spell that would end the fight quickly.

" _Confundus!"_ Callisto repeated the spell multiple times, adding colorful illusions to confuse them even more, Hannah, having snuck out from under the cloak, flung knockback jinxes at them, which were surprisingly efficient as one of the people was thrown backwards into the person behind him.

" _Tarantallegra."_ Luna's dreamy voice added, the hex catching two of them as they spun and tripped over themselves.

" _Levicorpus!_ " Hannah adds, one of the men being torn into the air even as Luna pegged the same man with a _rictusempra_ hex.

Susan and Callisto quickly stunned and bound the men, grinning at each other as they realized that the hexes Luna and Hannah had were mostly ones they had learned in first year. _That was incredibly anticlimactic,_ Callisto thought, even as she took their wands and threw them somewhere in the forest, _but at least now I'm awake._

Callisto turned to her friends with a grin as they finished binding the men who had attacked them, summoning her invisibility cloak from the ground where it had been dropped and putting it back into her bag. "Where's the compass pointing, and do any of you know how far we've got left?"

"It should be about 80 kilometres or so." Hannah suggested, pulling out her compass as she thought, "It's five-ish in the morning, and the compass is pointing thataways." She pointed off in a direction that was vaguely where the trail was headed.

"That's about 14 hours left then." Callisto frowned in thought, "Eh, we still have like 24 hours to go, it should be fine. Remember though, girls,"

"The quicker the better." Susan and Hannah chorused, Callisto having repeated it more than enough times on their walk. "Honestly, Azzie, we know!" Callisto grinned back at them and skipped forward, linking her and Luna's arms together, "Let's get going, girlies!"

 _..._


	9. Chapter 9

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

 _..._

… _.."It should be about 85 kilometres or so." Hannah suggested, pulling out her compass as she thought, "It's five-ish in the morning, and the compass is pointing thataways." She pointed off in a direction that was vaguely where the trail was headed._

" _That's about 15 hours left then." Callisto frowned in thought, "Eh, we still have like 24 hours to go, it should be fine. Remember though, girls,"_

" _The quicker the better." Susan and Hannah chorused…_

 _..._

 _[Word Count: 2,766]_

 _[September 2, 1994 :: About…. 120 or so kilometres from Altair, with Ronald Weasley]_

"I don't get why mum thought this would be such a great idea!" Ron complained, stopping in the middle of the trail and crossing his arms, glaring rather violently at Terry and Justin.

"Don't look at me, mate!" Tery protested, "I'm not particularly enjoying have to wander through the forest much either, and the lack of warmth or, you know, _food_ because you for some reason are refusing to share your _dozens of sandwiches_ with us not to mention acting like a total prat!"

"What?!" Ron shouted, "I'm _not_ a prat, and you should eat your own sandwiches! Mum made these for me and 'Mione-" "Don't call me that." "-not for _you,_ so you can find your own food!"

" _My_ dads-yes, they are both male, thank-you-very-much-can't cook to save their lives, a while I do have candy-" Terry paused abruptly. "Or, Ron, how about this: I'll trade you the candy I have for your sandwiches."

"Blimey, mate! Now you're being smart! It's a little gross that you have _two_ dads, but-"

"Ronald Weasley!" Hermione interjected bossily, "You don't _say_ things like that! And don't give him your food-"

"Hermione!" Ron protested, "It's _candy,_ and he's asking for these stupid sandwiches anyways-"

"That doesn't mean you should-"

"-I don't care what you-"

"-Having sandwiches is better-"

"-that doesn't matter candy tastes-"

Terry and Justin traded a glance and Terry quickly traded Ron's sandwiches for his candy. "C'mon, mate." Terry whispered to Justin, "I think we're better off without them." The two snuck away down the trail, ignoring the shouted argument the two were having (over sandwiches versus candy, of all things) and hurrying away rather fast.

"D'you think, if we moved super fast," Justin pondered, "We'd be able to catch up to Azzie and Susan's group?"

Terry grimaced, "Azzie will be 50 kilometres or something ahead of us by now, I don't think we'd be able to catch up even if we ran the entire way."

"Good point." Justin scowled for a moment before brightening, "Hey, d'you think they'll realize we left any time soon?"

"Give it 20 minutes."

… _..Ouch….._ Reid deadpanned… _.that was like, cruel or something….._

… _..Who wants to bet 30 galleons that Weasley and Granger won't make it to Altair and we'll have to 'retrieve' them?..._ Gabel suggested, bringing laughter and various bets.

… _...Do you expect Malfoy's group to catch up anytime soon?..._ Sei asked, genuinely curious …. _Malfoy's still upset about his poor face-I think that Greengrass purposely healed it so it would scar…_

… _..Probably…_ … someone commented… _..I mean, Zabini and Greengrass are competent, and Corner seems to at least seem a little rational, and has been listening to them-….._

… _..Who knows how long_ that _will last!..._ another laughed.

….. _Probably not long, but whatever-anyways, Malfoy is enough of a coward to ensure that he'll stay with the other three as long as he thinks it's safer than not, so they'll probably get to Altair, albeit likely a lot later than little Potter's group….._

… _.Zis is more fun zan I thought it vould be!..._ one of the veela commented (they all seemed to have a French accent-something about sexiness-despite being from _Russia_ ) ….. _I zink zat we vill have a very inte-resting year, non?..._

… _.Oui…._ Sei interrupted in a rather terrible accent ….. _I call dibs on being one of the ones to retrieve Weasley!..._

… _..Seconded!..._ Reid shouted over the link before anyone else could join in, scaring the poor little prejudiced Hogwarts students would be _delightful!_

 _[September 2, 1994 :: About 80 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic]_

It was relatively peaceful for a good time afterwards, the only issues occuring when various predators got overzealous and had to be deterred with fire and stunning or cutting curses. At one point, they had found a meadow full of vibrant flowers and the delighted expression on Luna's face made it so the girls just had to stop for a minute.

Luna got to spend a good hour braiding flowers into the hair of her friends as they rested and ate an early lunch before they moved on. By now the girls had grown tired of walking, and had started singing various songs to pass the time. Susan, Hannah and Luna would sing the wizarding versions of various nursery rhymes and Callisto would return with the muggle version of the same song. _("Fly, fly, fly your broom, swiftly through the sky…." "What! That doesn't even rhyme correctly!" "It's close enough!")_

They would also trade stories as they wandered down the trail, Hannah checking the compass every few minutes anxiously, as if she was worried they would be abruptly thrown off course by something.

And they were. Rather explosively.

The trail they were walking down hadn't changed at all-it was still wooded, with occasional small creatures hopping by, dark enough to leave a _lumos_ orb hovering in front of them, creepy enough to have Susan and Callisto on constant alert, and _just_ quiet enough to make it seem like something either terrible or unsuspected was just about to happen. Hannah had muttered something about ' _if your luck catches us again, Azzie, I will hex you into the next century'_ when they heard a branch snap (which really only succeeded with Susan looking creeped out and Callisto flicking off a _revelio_ a half-second later.

The only reason Hannah hadn't had a panic attack yet over the fact that they all just _knew_ something not-good would happen was that she knew Callisto's twisted luck would do just enough to drag them into precarious situations but keep them all in relatively good health. Probably. Maybe.

"Uh oh." Luna said after a second branch snapped, "I think the heliopaths have lost their pets."

Callisto shot her a look that said ' _Really? You choose now to say something difficult to decipher?_ ' but overall didn't react but to drop into a slightly more defensive stand, Susan following a moment later. They kept wary watch around them for a good few minutes before something happened.

Hannah's first thought was that it had started raining fire. And then that it was raining fire-cats, which was actually pretty close to what was actually happening.

A-herd…? Pride…? No, it's _clowder._ -a clowder of fire-cats was streaming across the trail, generally ignoring the four humans unless it was to run close and jump into their face before bursting into flame and… evaporating? They would leap and jokingly claw at one of the four girls' faces before bursting into flames and leaving behind nothing but ash, though that only happened a few times.

Really, the fire-cats didn't really look like they wanted anything to do with the humans, and looked rather like they were running away from something, instead. While the girls wondered what was chasing them, what had to be hundreds of cats ran across the path in front of them leaving the plants to either side scorched and the air stinking of smoke. A rather watery howl sounded and they rapidly realized what the fire-cats were running from. Water-hounds.

Hunting dogs that appeared to be made from cold water and ice were giving rapid chase to the cats, occasionally catching one and _melding into them_ , leaving steam where they had been. Callisto's mouth was hanging open in slight shock, and the others weren't much better. Hannah abruptly started giggling, Susan and Callisto following after she explained what they were thinking.

"They're… They're like kamikaze animals! Or-or suicidal and _ahahaha!_ There are so _many!_ I've never even seen this many n-normal cats or dogs at one time and-" she has to stop when she laughs harder, clutching at her sides as she doubles over in laughter. Everyone but Luna is laughing hard, though Luna just stands there peering after the rapidly fading forms with a dreamy expression.

"I think that Altair Institute of Magic might have Heliopath infestation-that is never good, maybe I should write daddy about it….?"

Her utterly serious question just made the girls laugh louder, Callisto sinking down to her knees as she cried in laughter.

 _[Same moment :: Break with Altair students]_

… _..That was just about the same reaction I had to seeing Riveras' cracked up evolution experiment.…._ Sei projected along with feelings of annoyance … _.had I known they were an_ experiment _by the annoying natural magic fae teacher, I would have killed them. Riveras is annoying when he goes on about his little experiment-I mean,_ seriously, _what made him think it was a good idea to test evolution and natural selection by creating a bunch of element-animals and setting them loose!?..._

… _..Hey!..._ A fae objected, … _..Faes aren't_ annoying, _and it was your elder vampire lord Ircoriel who approved the damn things and helped Riveras summon them! They wouldn't be so terrifying towards EVERYTHING BUT_ HUMANS _if he hadn't!..._

… _..Why would they act nice towards humans if a_ vampire _approved them? No, Ircoriel didn't have anything to do with this!..._ Reid retorted, annoyed, … _.It had to have been one of the human teachers, otherwise they would hate humans…._

… _..Don't get tichy against humans, Rei-rei…_ Reagan scolded, the human girl slightly annoyed, … _.and just because the fire-cats like to try and burn vampires to ashes and the water-hounds like trying to drown anything with an air affinity, doesn't mean it was one of our human teacher's fault that Riveras is a nut-job!..._

… _..That's my patron, you sleazy ball of mud!..._ a different, incredibly irate fae shouted over the link, … _..Riveras is more powerful than you bitchy slug of a human could ever hope to be!..._

… _.What did you just call me?!..._ Reagan roared, her mental voice practically screaming into the ear of anyone listening to the link … _..Riveras is too a nut-job, and you, little Soren Mallouren, are going to learn just what it feels like to be a slug, you little fae bastard. Not even your_ dear _patron Riveras can stand you!..._

… _.Why, you little-!..._ Soren started to retort, mental voice nearly as loud as Reagan.

… _.Would you both shut-..._

… _..You're a shrew of a stupid mortal human who has no redeeming qualities except maybe being a bed-warmer!..._ Soren shouted over Sei, unbelievably mad … _..Slimy little-~..._

 _[Same moment :: Back with Somewhat-Sane Students… 75 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Should we be-hic-worried about those?" Susan asked between laughs as she held onto Hannah as to not fall down.

"I don't think they want to attack us, at least." Callisto responded with a cheery grin as she managed to stand, wrapping Luna in a hug after seeing her worried expression. "Luna, dear, I don't think that the heliopaths will be the most concerning problem at Altair. It will be find."

"Do you think there will be a Milly Guppet there?" Luna asked, excited once again.

"What's a-I don't think I want to know, actually." Callisto beamed at Luna anyways, "There might be a Milpy Gummet, but I'm not sure."

"Milly Guppet, silly!" Luna corrected her, "I hope there are, daddy was going to take me on an expedition to see if we could find a Milly Guppet in a few months, and daddy would be very happy if we found one here."

That conversation continued on as the girls set off once again. All four of them relaxed more the further they went, and after over four hours of peace, and exhaustion from hiking over 20 kilometres set in. Along with the lack of sleep and the magic they had used up the previous day, they quickly stopped paying much attention to their surroundings, and grew steadily less on watch as the sun rose in the sky.

There didn't seem to be a reason to pay attention anymore. They were just over 50 kilometres from Altair, with fair weather and a no longer gloomy atmosphere. The trees had thinned and they were seeing meadows more often than not. The valley had started to come closer to a point, with the mountains getting gradually closer until they were walking near the base of one again. They were easily able to see the other side, and the peaceful (well, somewhat-it's hard to ignore the dragons, birds and occasional howls that would echo through the valley) atmosphere was making them tired and more than a little lazy.

That didn't last long.

They had just entered a clearing close to the mountain, a large gaping cave mouth situated in the shadows of a rock pile. The girls didn't give it any thought, trudging along on the path with exhausted slumps to their posture, but determined to keep going for at least another hour before they took a break. They had just passed the cave and had moved on, the trees already getting steadily thicker the deeper they went, when they heard a screeching roar come from the cave.

" _Damn."_ Callisto groans despairingly, turning around slowly, "Potter's luck."

Behind them was a massive manticore, large golden lion's body muscled and imposing on its own, not helped by the massive canines or the scaled bat-wings that had a wingspan four times the length of the creature. It's arcing scorpion's tail was enough of an indicator of the danger of the creature, its shade a dark, nearly black green that showed how utterly powerful the poison it was tipped with was.

Callisto was split second remembering everything Remus had told her about them-the young ones had pure black tails that would change as they aged, red for milder poison, then blue, then dark blue-green, then dark green, then yellow. Callisto was just glad it wasn't yellow.

Callisto twisted back to her companions, panic clearly painted across her face, and as one they sprinted towards the trail. Once the trees got dense enough the manticore wouldn't be able to follow them, and that was exactly the extent of their plan. _Get away from the poisonous giant winged lion right now!_

The manticore roared in fury, and pursued them with a massive flap of its wings. It's wings and legs worked in tandem, propelling it far faster than the humans would be able to outrun (and for a moment, the Altair students were slightly concerned) before Hannah turned and split second shouted " _Procudo!"_

Callisto was fairly certain that was spell used in metalworking, and wondered briefly when Hannah had learned that and how it would do anything when the spell hit the ground with a _crack!_

The overpowered spell hit the ground and pushed a large amount of the ground backwards, ending up creating a rather solid wave of dirt that would stall the manticore for like _5 seconds, damn it!_

"Anyone know their weaknesses?!" Callisto shouted as they ran.

"People used to attack them on elephants!" Luna shouted back, ever helpful.

"Does it _look like we have a BLOODY ELEPHANT!?"_ Callisto cried in frustration, flinging the same spell Hannah had used behind them a moment later, "Damn it! I'll distract it-drop a bloody tree on it or something!"

Callisto turned and adjusted the direction she was moving in a half second, sprinting towards the manticore as she flung whatever spells she could think of at it, reductor curses and blasting hexes appearing every few seconds. It didn't really do much except enrage the manticore, the spells being deflected easily off of the armoured wing scales. Callisto twisted and rolled as the massive scorpion's tail jabbed at where she had been standing, summoning a dead tree from nearby and banishing it into the manticore's head.

The manticore tore it out of the air with a slash of its tail and a furious roar, claws tearing up the earth as it lunged for her. Callisto just barely managed to dodge, one of the claws scraping a small cut into her side. Callisto could barely feel it, all of her thoughts focused on surviving this _now_ and focusing on that later.

Callisto dodged and threw spells at the manticore successfully for a few moments, before she attempted to make an illusion to hopefully distract the manticore momentarily. She remembered a little too late that _illusions don't work on most magical creatures._

The manticore's tail went straight through Callisto's thigh, knocking her to the ground with the force and the _painpainpain_ that was lancing through every inch of Callisto's body. She screamed as the manticore pulled its stinger out, blood dripping from it as the manticore roared in triumph, only interrupted by a scream and a massive _crack!_

" _Azzie!"_

… _._

 **Heeeelloo!**

I can't tell if I feel worse for ending it like this, or for not updating it on Friday like I thought I would. I meant to write this over the weekend, and then… I didn't.

Woops.

The next chapter will be up like Thursday or Friday or something maybe (?)

Possibly like next Monday maybe.

Okay, now onto the actual somewhat serious things:

Thank you to everyone who has so far reviewed! I meant to respond to them, and then I forgot about it and had to deal with testing this week and yeah I don't actually have an excuse. I appreciate the positivity and suggestions that might not have actually been suggestions but I took them like them anyways.

I know I suck at writing action scenes, but I hope I did a little okay? Maybe?

Right! Ta~!

~Insubstancial


	10. Chapter 10

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _...The manticore's tail went straight through Callisto's thigh, knocking her to the ground with the force and the painpainpain that was lancing through every inch of Callisto's body. She screamed as the manticore pulled its stinger out, blood dripping from it as the manticore roared in triumph, only interrupted by a scream and a massive_ crack! _..._

… _._

 _Word Count:: 3,638_

 _[September 2, 1994 :: 70 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic]_

" _Azzie!"_ the three other girls shouted even as the tree they had been trying to tip over narrowly missed the manticore, branches snapping as they crashed into the giant beast, crushing the surrounding area and just barely grazing Callisto's already injured body.

Callisto rolled out of the way, limping away from the manticore (who had reasoned that because the little human was most definitely going to die, the tree had done him a personal offence and most definitely needed to be killed) that was currently attacking the tree with a vengeance.

Callisto stared at it even as she stumbled backwards. She felt her magic hum under her skin protectively as it reeled back inside of her, tired from _confunding~?_ the massive manticore. _Get stabbed with a fatally poisonous manticore barb and then my magic decides to "help" the manticore decide that the bloody tree is more dangerous than I am_ she thought silently praising her odd magic.

As she moved as fast as she could towards where Susan was waiting anxiously, tripping and stumbling every other step as Callisto staggered. Luna and Hannah quickly arrived to stand next to her, Luna's expression so very different from her usual as they tightened their grip on their wands.

"Just go!" Callisto hissed, voice strained, "My leg hurts, and I'm fairly certain I'm about to pass out from whatever my magic just did-" she cut herself off with a gasp as the branches from a bush brushed against her thigh where she was bleeding, black poison from the manticore leaking from her leg along with the crimson blood.

"Merlin, Azzie!" Hannah cried, "You j-just, you could die and- and you're _bleeding!"_

"You think I don't know that?" Callisto groaned, leaning heavily on Susan as she held her up, "Keep moving for a while, I'll let you patch me up without protest just let's _get away_ from the _thing that just stabbed me_ first, yeah?"

They kept moving for another two kilometres, Luna casting a scent concealment charm she had learnt from her father and Susan a _muffliato_. It would keep them relatively concealed and silent as Susan and Hannah proceeded to chew Callisto out for being such an _utter idiot_.

"Azzie, if we don't get to Altair in 3 hours you're going to die!" Hannah shouted, distressed, "I don't-I don't want to l-lose you!"

"I have 5 hours." Callisto corrects after a moment, expression strained "I'm not going to die, Hannah, one, I doubt the Altair teachers actually want us _dead_ and that's without saying how the Ministry would react, and two, I'm mildly poison resistant-basilisk bite and all."

" _BASILISK BITE?!"_ Hannah shouted, "You never told me about a-a _basilisk bite!_ "

Callisto and Susan winced, though Luna looked rather more calm after hearing Callisto's confidence.

"Yes, well… it'll at least make it so that in 5 hours, instead of _dying_ I'll just start to get really sick, but it would have to be over 10 hours for me to die. We'll, we'll _probably_ be there in time."

" _Probably!?"_ Hannah cried, "There will be no _probably,_ Callisto Azalea Lilian Potter, _you will not die._ And you're not getting away with not telling me about this _basilisk bite!_ Why are you always so _blasé_ about dying! Every year, you just _brush it off!_ "

"I'm sorry!" Callisto whined, "It wasn't my fault that kid-Voldemort tried to kill me with a basilisk! Fawkes healed the fang bite anyways!"

"You were _actually bitten by a basilisk!?_ " Hannah shouted, "You're never going outside every again!"

"Hannah!" Callisto protested, both amused and worried, "All of the times I've ever been in danger is inside-"

"Are you forgetting being chased by a werewolf or all of the Triwizard Tasks?" Susan cut in sharply, and all three girls watched as Callisto blushed as they continued on. "Maybe getting attacked by a _hundred dementors,_ or when Hagrid accidentally let his baby dragon out and your clothes caught on fire?"

"That was totally not-"

"Mr. Indru said he missed playing with you." Luna pipes up, "He was sad that you were more afraid of the water after the grindylows tried to drown you."

"I'll have to send the Giant Squid my love, then, Luna." Callisto said mildly, clinging to the distraction eagerly, "Stop chewing me out, here! I'm dying, love! _Dying!"_

"Stop being a pansy." Susan snapped, "Just one minute ago you said you _weren't_ going to die."

"That's doesn't mean it doesn't _feel_ like I'm dying!"

"Callisto Azalea!" Hannah shouted, fully in mother-hen mode, "Sit down this instant, and let me heal you! I have a pain-relief potion somewhere, I just _knew_ you'd be needing it…"

Callisto sat down quickly. No one in their little group would ever upset Hannah if she was worried. Callisto _did_ have some self preservation, after all.

…

….. _Basilisk..? Werewolf? A hundred dementors? A baby dragon?..._ Reid said in wonder … _..By the Night, she truly is something else-though she is just as afraid of Healers as every intelligent being should be…._

 _...Right, let's get back to the part where she was just poisoned by a fucking manticore…._ Marcus cut in nastily … _.Or you know, the fact that we didn't even know there was a manticore there. Or the fact that if she doesn't get to the Institute in-what'd she say?-10 hours, which I don't get how she knows, she'll end up dead. That would ruin a lot of your projects, wouldn't it?..._

… _._ _ **Boys….**_ Riveren Aizaguirre interrupted, the smooth voice of the headmaster interrupting the conversation seamlessly, the one word sounding like an admonishment even though his mental projection was full of amusement … _ **..we do not plan to let the little Savior-girl die. As soon as she starts hallucinating from the manticore poison, Lorenzo, Strelem, you two will take her to the infirmary. Healer Vesalien will be prepared to keep her alive. Don't interrupt otherwise, however, unless it seems like they might die. The rest of you: one of you, other-Lorenzo, mayhaps, will inform them of her 'good-health' and ensure that**_ **none** _ **of them die, we have no reason to upset the poor British students so early on, now do we?...**_

… _.Yessir…._ Reid agreed immediately, acquiescing to the demands of the elder vampire immediately, even as he shook his head to clear it of the slightly overwhelming presence of one of the dozen or so vampires that were older than 2,000.

… _.Did he say which Lorenzo was doing what?..._ Reagan asked amused, … _.I call dibs on taking Potter to the infirmary-..._

… _..No you aren't!..._ Marcus objected immediately, no longer particularly concerned over Potters survival as he knew she would at least _live._ They could pick her mind over her 'adventures' at a later time, anyways. Now he just had to make sure _he_ got to take the Potter girl to the infirmary. It would fall into the debt rule-if someone helps you without (necessarily) expecting anything in return, you owed them a debt-even if he had been ordered to do so.

… _.Yes I am!..._

 _...Are not!..._

… _.Are too!..._

… _.Are not!..._

 _...Are too!..._

...

They started moving again about a half hour later, Callisto's leg now splinted and wrapped in a bandage that had quickly bled red. Callisto was alternating in using Hannah and Susan as a crutch, making their way much slower down the trail, Luna humming softly, though she sent concerned glances back at them every time she had to pause for them to catch up.

Even under the influence of an excessive amount of pain-relief potion, Callisto's leg continued to ache and burn as the poison seeped through her blood and infected her muscles. She had meant it when she said she had five hours before she got sick-usually if you were infected you would die at the five hour mark, and get sick on the third hour-but she didn't know _how_ she knew that. It was one of her _instincts_ that screamed of her magic being protective.

They'd been walking for three hours, Callisto steadily refusing to stop even as she tripped every few steps and grimaced in pain, or as her hands started to shake as the poison affected them. They were focused on making it seem like nothing was wrong, Hannah and Susan telling stories that always seemed to have a wary edge and Luna singing- _what_ was she singing again?

' _~the dwarves go marching one by one, Hurrah, Hurrah, the dwarves go marching one by one, the youngest one stops to suck his thumb, and they all go marching down~'_

Callisto grimaced as she lost most of the feeling in the leg the manticore had pierced, her skin tingling unpleasantly as it burnt away from the poison, her magic wrapping around it to try and slow down the poison's spread. The basilisk venom was an entirely different venom to the manticore poison, for one it didn't try to slowly _dissolve the body from the inside out,_ just tried to shut down all of your organs while burning the nerve endings. The manticore poison was endlessly more painful, though Callisto ignored it and focused on the song Luna was singing quietly, ' _~the dwarves go marching four by four, Hurrah, Hurrah, the dwarves go marching four by four, the little one stops to shut the door~_ '

"Can we get going quicker?" Callisto breathes weakly, fingers tightening around Susan's shoulder as she hobbled down the trail, "Merlin, I wish we were allowed to use brooms, We'd've been there hours ago."

' _~the dwarves go marching seven by seven, Hurrah, Hurrah, the dwarves go marching seven by seven, the youngest one stops to pray to Heaven...~_

Luna continued to sing quietly even as Hannah and Susan exchanged a glance. "If you hadn't been so eager to get yourself hurt," Hannah admonished, "You wouldn't be in this much pain."

"I have to agree with Hannah, Azzie." Susan agreed with a slightly amused smile, "With your luck, you'll survive, but still-couldn't you have been a _little_ more careful?"

' _~the dwarves go marching nine by nine, Hurrah, Hurrah, the dwarves go marching nine by nine, the youngest one stops to check the time~'_

"Yeah, yeah, I said I was sorry!"

"I don't want you to be _sorry!"_ Hannah exclaimed, "I want you to understand how utterly _stupid_ it is to get yourself hurt all of the time!"

' _~the dwarves go marching ten by ten, Hurrah, Hurrah, the dwarves go marching ten by ten, the youngest one stops to shout "The End!" and they all go marching down, to the ground, to get in to the hill~'_

"I just wanted to make sure you were safe!" Callisto protested.

" _We_ just want to make sure _you_ are safe!" Hannah retorted.

' _~boom, boom, boom. Boom, boom, boom.~'_

Luna had stopped at the mouth to a clearing, before turning back to beam at the rest of the girls. She skipped towards them with a happy smile, "There are more ways to fly than with a broom, you know that Azzie!"

"Luna…? Why do you-" Callisto peered into the clearing, realization appearing on her face. "Oh. Yeah."

"Oh." Susan parrots, staring wide-eyed into the clearing, "Yeah."

"Shouldn't we be, I don't know, going _away_ from the herd of hippogriff?" Hannah asks warily, staring at the rather large group of powerful creatures, who had only just begun to notice them. The largest was quite a bit bigger than Buckbeak had been, golden feathers reflecting the high sun. He turned towards them and cantered forward rapidly, stopping abruptly a few metres away and glaring down at them in warning. A few other hippogriff followed him, all issuing a challenge and warning

Callisto stepped forward in confidence, remembering all of the times she had approached Buckbeak over the years. Hannah backed away, Susan looking a little like she wanted to follow her. Callisto paused a while away from the hippogriff, bowing at the waist, with one hand extended low to the ground in front of her, and waited.

She waited for a few minutes as the hippogriff assessed her, long enough for her hand to start to shake and for her to sway from the hazy pain that spread upwards from her thigh. The unexpected movement almost startled the hippogriff into attacking her before calming once again and slowly bowing back.

Callisto stumbled forward, moving as slowly and carefully as she could manage as she rose steadily and rested her palm on the hippogriffs beak. The powerful creature huffed, and seemed to narrow his eyes before bending down and resting his head in her hand. Callisto took the opportunity to hobble to the side of him, one hand rested carefully in the feathers on his shoulders as she turned expectantly to her companions, an eyebrow raised in expectation.

Luna skipped forwards next, bowing happily towards a second hippogriff and getting a return bow of respect much quicker than Callisto had. Luna beamed happily at the hippogriff in front of her, and instead of resting her hands on his beak or feathers simply wrapped her arms around his neck in an embrace and burying her face into his feathers.

Callisto scoffed in amusement but turned towards Susan and Hannah in expectance anyways. Hannah seemed to cling to every bit of Gryffindor bravery she could scrounge up as she took a bold step towards one of the female hippogriff, bowing at the waist as Luna and Callisto had done, and waiting anxiously until the hippogriff bowed in return. She doesn't go further than laying her hand on her beak though, Susan rapidly following Hannah's example with a fourth hippogriff.

"I was injured," Callisto explained in the softest, most level voice she could manage with the poison beginning to seep into her organs, "I ask that you would take us to Altair-the institute at the end of the valley. We would most appreciate it."

The hippogriff she was touching seemed to assess her silently before getting to his knees and allowing her to climb carefully on to his back. The three other hippogriff followed their leaders example, and all four girls sat carefully upon the backs of the hippogriffs, burying their fingers into the feathers on their necks as they stood again and spread their wings.

"My deepest thanks." Callisto murmured in thanks, the other girls chiming in their own appreciation for the favor the hippogriffs were showing. Callisto grimaced as the hippogriff took off, the feathers brushing uncomfortably against the burning skin on her leg that was spreading up her abdomen and down her arms to her fingers.

They quickly cleared the treetops, various other hippogriffs taking flight after them, making an impressive sight as the herd rose above the trees. The hippogriff Callisto was riding let out a screech of warning as younger wyvern swerved across their path.

Soon enough the Altair Institute of Magic appeared before them, massive spiraling centre tower cutting high sharply into the skyline, the warded stone twisting from a wide base to a large covered top that overlooked the entirety of the institute. Intuition told Callisto that this had to be the Headmaster's tower-or just the teachers quarters-because she doubted they'd let anything lay above them.

At the base there was a wide opening, paths trailing though beautiful magical flowers that bloomed in buds of unnatural beauty, glistening blood reds and emerald green, sapphire blue and amethyst purple. They were colors you would never see naturally in the non-magical world, and they made the area surrounding the central tower positively ooze magic.

Around the tower there seemed to be different wings-directly in front was a massive atrium like structure that was sprawling across the area, various students looking up from whatever project they were looking at to stare upwards at the new Hogwarts students in surprise. The wings to either side seemed to be wide classroom buildings, a row of classrooms before there was an open courtyard and then another row of classrooms. The last wing was what Callisto supposed were the dormitories, a massive wing of rooms that held balconies and hallways in a rather intricate maze before _another_ open courtyard held what looked like duelling platforms and circles, along with a market-bazaar that seemed to hold all sorts of oddities, before being enclosed by a _second_ massive wing of dormitories that mirrored the first.

It was beautiful.

There were trails headed from the Institute at all angles, one climbing almost vertically up the mountain at the back of the valley upwards, and others that spiraled into the surrounding forest. There was an expansive cleared area a little ways away from the Institute that housed stables and what could be dubbed a 'landing platform' for anything that flew, which was where the hippogriffs headed. They touched down quickly, Callisto sliding off the back of the hippogriff and landing with a _thump_ in the grass next to him. Hannah let out a worried cry and hurried off of her own hippogriff, rushing over to where Callisto laid on the ground in pain.

" _I'm never going anywhere near a manticore ever again."_ she hisses from her spot on the ground, eyes squeezed shut as tears form at the corners.

"I'm never letting you go anywhere near a manticore ever again!" Hannah cried, even as Susan hurried over to them. Luna just wandered off with a purpose, seemingly knowing exactly what she had to do.

"Excuse me, Mr. Demon?" they dimly heard Luna ask, attention quickly switching to where she stood in front of a tall male with forest green eyes and dark brown hair. A sword hung from his belt, and daggers were visible in their sheaths across his chest and tucked in his boots. Callisto thought it was a little overkill, but what did she know, she had just been impaled by a manticore and had no reason to think Altair was even relatively safe.

Both Hannah and Susan let in a started gasp as she recognized what Luna had said. _Mister Demon._ The wizarding lore on demons was just as violent as it was for many of the other non-human races. Rife with murder and war and torture, demons were among the most feared magical races, and was commonly thought of as 'evil' among most humans wizarding societies. Britain included.

"Yes, little Miss Human?" the demon returned, eyes showing amusement and intrigue as they trailed from Luna to the two terrified purebloods and then on to Callisto where she laid on the floor in pain, only response to his gaze waving her fingers in a mockery of a greeting and slumping back down to stare at the sky.

"Could you help us carry Azzie to the school?" Luna asked cheerfully, beaming up at the demon who was nearly a foot taller than her.

"She can't walk?" he queried, even as he walked over to her, Susan and Hannah tensing even as Luna drifted after him.

"Azzie was stabbed by a manticore."

"That would do it." the demon mused, "How long ago?"

"Four and a half hours."

The demon stopped and stared a Luna incredulously before turning to Callisto with an expression of startled amusement. He bent down and scooped her bridal style into his arms before moving for the trail that led back to the Institute. He glanced down at Callisto and his eyebrow raised in recognition.

"I expect a favor in return." he informed Callisto, who nodded in agreement before grimacing as she lost feeling in her entire abdomen.

"What's your name, Mr. Demon?" Luna asked jovially, ignoring the tense forms of Susan and Hannah and instead paying total attention to the demon who had decided to help them. It wasn't rare in Altair for different magical races did favors for one another, but it was always on a favor-favor system. The favor system was heavily weighted, with favors between antagonistic races being worth much more, but there was one higher rule. Only idiots did things for free outside of close friends. (Unless they were sprites, but they were too-cheerful helpful little buggers anyways)

"Lorcan I'vores." he replied cheerfully, "Earth daemon. What is _your_ name, little Miss Human?"

 _It helps,_ I'vores thought, _to be the first to have a favor over little Potter._ Then he thought about it more and grimaced. _Aizaguirre is so going to make me the advisor for this group._

"I'm Luna Lovegood. That's Callisto Azalea Potter-Black, Hannah Abbott and Susan Bones." Luna responded, pointing to each in turn. "Thanks for the help, Mr. Demon!"

I'vores glanced at her in amusement at the term of address but was silent as they rounded a twist in the trail to see the wide atrium area of the Institute. Quite a few different people looked up as they entered, somehow realizing that something mildly interesting was happening. Some of the more excitable races, the sprites and fauns, quickly raced towards them in excitement, bubbling happy greetings and random praises towards the earth demon.

I'vores had to stop as they moved in front of the path to the infirmary, spouting questions after questions that Luna answered with twisted words that left them even more confused than before until Callisto groaned in annoyance and pain.

"I can't feel my fingers or toes. Or my stomach. Or my chest. Or my _neck_. Or _anything,_ please, please, please _move!"_ she tried to sound slightly confident but it came out as a strained whine that had some of the water sprites swooning as they realized they had someone that they had better take care of.

"To the infirmary!" one cried, and it seemed to turn into a battle cry, with various sprites rushing down and carrying all four girls quickly to the infirmary.

"To the infirmary." I'vores deadpanned as he was left standing alone.

…

 **Alright. That was a terrible end to a chapter, but whatever, I wrote 1,500 more words than I normally do, I think it's okay. They've finally gotten to Altair! Next chapter will be at the Institute-JUST KIDDING-it's going to be the other groups. Twelfth chapter will be all of the Hogwarts students together again at the Institute. Alright, you can skip reading the rest of this, it's me responding to reviews I didn't bother to respond to earlier (sorry, sorry!)**

 **To everyone who just told me I was a *fabulous* writer, I know. Actually I am really thankful for the positivity, as this is the first time I've ever posted anything I wrote. I'm not going to bother answering these individually, but I am really grateful you took the time to actually review and tell me I'm doing a decent job.**

The Great O-Man: _The reason I started writing a story about this was Miranda Flairgold's story, but I sincerely hope that this story turns out as original as I can make it._

'Guest' who asked if they would ride hippogriffs to school: _I almost changed it because of your review. I did have that planned, so good guess!_

Nerdy Gamer: _Yeah, there will be some conflict-y things with the other groups next chapter, so you can look forward to that._

RebeliousOne: _Not quite accidental, I'd say._

Katzztar: _Mostly, thanks for reviewing and helping me with ideas every chapter. I would've pm'ed you the responses to your reviews like I did originally and then I forgot. And tested this entire week. Whatever, but yeah, Daphne healed Draco just so his face would scar. It had to happen!_

 **Thanks again for all of the reviews! I'll try to update the next chapter Monday or Tuesday, if I remember to start writing it this weekend.**

 **Ta~!**

 **-InsubstancialCookies**


	11. Chapter 11

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _..."I can't feel my fingers or toes. Or my stomach. Or my chest. Or my_ neck _. Or_ anything _, please, please, please_ move _!" she tried to sound slightly confident but it came out as a strained whine that had some of the water sprites swooning as they realized they had someone that they had better take care of._

" _To the infirmary!" one cried, and it seemed to turn into a battle cry, with various sprites rushing down and carrying all four girls quickly to the infirmary._

" _To the infirmary." I'vores deadpanned as he was left standing alone..._

…

Word Count: 2,885

 _[September 2, 1994 :: 70 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Terry and Justin]_

"Terry, I think I'm beginning to regret splitting up from Granger and Weasley." Justin Finch-Fletchley said mildly as they looked down from the boulder they had rapidly climbed. Below them was a group of a sort of wild magical hedgehog. They weren't dangerous, exactly, but had a tendency to climb all over you and try to be your friend.

"No you don't." Terry Boot shot back, peering down at the weirdly cuddly animals. "But seriously, mate, what… just, what."

"D'you think they'd let off if we took one or two with us?" Justin mused thoughtfully as the hedgehog-things chirred happily.

"Do you want a pet hedgehog?" Terry retorted, even as the hedgehogs seemed to get a little more excited from Justin's question.

"I wouldn't mind having a pet hedgehog." he returned cheerfully, sliding off the boulder to Terry's utmost horror.

Justin bent down and allowed to of the odd hedgehog-things to climb into his arms before standing straight. He looked down at the two in his arms severely, "If you two are going to behave, then you can come with us. The rest of you," he looked around at the hedgehogs that had calmed considerably, "will have to stay here."

The two hedgehogs that seemed to have claimed Justin chittered in agreement, and Terry slid down from the boulder warily. The two tried moving on, and were pleasantly surprised to be able to actually get away from the odd animals.

"This whole valley is cracked-up." Terry grouched petulantly, "I think I'll just blame Callisto."

Justin scoffed, but looked down at the two hedgehogs in his arms, who looked back at him with expressions of utter innocence. Justin suddenly had a flashback to the time he had accused the Weasley twins of something and got that same expression in return.

"Oh bloody hell, this is going to end horribly." Justin bemoaned, "I'll name you two Freddie and Georgie, but I'll call you Dee and Gee."

"That was… so _absolutely unoriginal._ " Terry said spitefully, "If they turn out to be mischief making hedgehogs, I am leaving you to the consequences."

"Can't we just blame Callisto?" he asked delicately, "It'll all be her fault in the end, anyways."

"Everything is Callisto's fault." Terry said in agreement, "Hey, what do you think they've had to deal with so far?"

"Callisto's probably dying from poison somewhere." Justin mused, "Bet you they'll run into a dragon."

"Nah," the other disagreed, "Callisto will just have broken something important, and ran into rabid wolves or something."

"That's too simple, she'd likely atleast be fatally wounded, and maybe _magical_ rabid wolves, if they were lucky."

"Direwolves, then?" Terry laughed, "Nah, I'd say it's something that flies. It's always something that flies."

"When has it ever been something that flies?"

"That dragon first-year, and a _different_ dragon fourth-year. The hippogriff in Hagrid's class, too."

"You just had two examples." Justin argued, "That werewolf, remember? And the sea-creatures the second Task, the troll in first-year, wasn't there a rumour of acromantula?"

"Point made." Terry said with a scowl, "At least they'll get out alright."

"I hope Corner _doesn't_ make it out." Justin whined, Gee and Dee tucked comfortably in his arms as they followed the trail through the forest.

"Corner? I hope _Malfoy_ doesn't make it out."

Justin snorted in agreement, and they were silent for a while. The forest was relatively quiet, with the chitters of the two hedgehogs the only thing breaking the companionable silence.

"I can't believe you adopted two hedgehogs." Terry deadpanned, "The girls are going to laugh their arses off, especially when I tell them how you named them."

Justin stopped abruptly and turned to look at Terry in horrified realization. He glanced down at the hedgehogs, who peered back up at him with hopeful expressions. Justin closed his eyes and sighed mournfully.

...

 _[September 2, 1994 :: 100 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Draco Malfoy]_

"Hey Daph," Blaise whispered conspiratorially to his friend, taking great care to not let Michael or Draco overhear, "Did you actually purposefully heal Draco just so that his face would scar?"

Daphne didn't bother to respond verbally, just sending Blaise an utterly deadpan expression before turning back to the other two boys, who had been sitting down and pining for a good half hour over having to _walk_ all of the way to the Institute, and poor itty-bitty Draco not having a _perfect face_ any more..

" _Enough!"_ Daphne finally cried in annoyance, "Both of you get up and start moving!"

Draco looked perfectly scandalized at the suggestion, whilst Michael just scowled, refusal evident. "Why would we ever do anything this sad excuse for a school 'requires'?"

"Maybe so that we can actually _be at the school and not the middle of nowhere?_ "

"I refuse to have to wander around lost for another day!"

"It wouldn't be a whole day if you got off your arse and moved!" Blaise interrupted, "Draco, once we get to the Institute, you'll have a bed and bathroom to clean up in, as well as actual food instead of the candy we brought. I don't particularly want to arrive there half-starved, mind."

"They should just take us to the the school like any _proper_ school would." Michael bit in, scowling at Blaise and Daphne.

Blaise rolled his eyes and indicated that Daphne should start walking. "They can catch up to us, if they bother to move at all."

Blaise and Daphne left the two until Draco suddenly realized that _they were actually leaving them_ and hurried after them, nearly tripping over the robes he insisted on wearing. Michael followed moments later, not wanting to be left alone.

Draco whined for an entire two hours as Blaise and Daphne forced him to follow them down the trail. It wasn't long after that when Daphne silenced he and Michael rather viciously, with a spell that actually mimicked _glueing_ your lips together. It made trying to speak actually painful, and soon enough both of them stopped trying to talk and instead sulked the following two hours of forced cooperation.

It was four hours (and just barely 20 kilometres) later that they finally stopped to rest (though they still "didn't" have any food-really, Blaise just refused to share with anyone but Daphne) in a clearing. Daphne almost absently cast a tempus as she realized the sun was high. _3:47 PM_ it read, and Blaise frowned as he realized they had 15 hours to walk 110 kilometres, and that was if they didn't rest at all. They had to deal with _Draco_ and _Michael_ for another 15 hours _,_ for Merlin's sake.

…

 _[September 2, 1994 :: 45 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Ronald Weasley]_

"Hermione, I don't _want_ to keep walking! It's night time, I just want to sleep!" Ron whined, scowling at his friend. They hadn't gotten very far after Terry and Justin had left, with Hermione constantly scolding Ronald for letting them take his sandwiches that they could have eaten.

Ron kept complaining over his feet being sore and being tired, all the while as Hermione continually scolded him and informed him primly of spells he could use to relieve the pain or make him more awake.

Of course, Hermione had only _heard_ of the spells, as they were spells you would never learn in school and she couldn't _possibly_ be expected to learn them, she had OWLs to start studying for! It didn't stop Hermione from scolding Ron, however, and so that was exactly what she planned to do until they arrived at Altair. Ron just had to understand why it was so important!

"We have to get to the Institute before seven next morning, and it's only ten in the afternoon! I won't be late because of you!"

"It's not like it matters, anyways." Ron grouched, "No one could possibly walk 200 kilometres in two days."

Hermione huffed in annoyance, "Callisto's probably already there!"

"Callisto _this,_ Callisto _that!_ She's such an attention seeker!" Ron complained, "I'm going to sleep!"

"No you aren't! We are walking at least 10 more kilometres even if it kills you!"

"No we're not!"

"Honestly, Ron!" Hermione cried, "No, don't lay down, we have to keep going!"

"I'm going to sleep, bugger off!"

…

 _[September 3, 1994 :: 20 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Terry Boot]_

"It's too early t'be awake…" Justin muttered as his shoulders slumped and he peered at the surrounding area, looking for Dee and Gee in the dim _lumos_ that came from Terry. "I 'nly sl'pt like four hours."

"It's four in the morning." Terry objected, yawning widely, "We slept six hours."

"And that's so much better?" he whined, blinking blearily in the light of Terry's _lumos,_ casting his own a few moments later.

"Two hours better, yeah."

"Don't _joke at me,_ Terry!" Justin complained, "It's to early for jokes! Just-you have Ron's sandwiches, right? Give me one."

They ate a (very) early breakfast with the light of the two _lumos,_ Justin still looking around dejectedly for his two hedgehog friends. "I think they ran away." he said glumly after a few minutes.

"Who?"

"Gee and Dee." Justin complained, "I thought we were getting along, too!"

"It was probably Callisto's fault." Terry deadpanned, standing slowly, "Good riddance, anywho, I can't believe you wanted to keep two hedgehogs."

"Terry!" Justin exclaimed, offended as he trudged after Terry, lumos bright in the early light. "They were my friends!"

"They were crazy magic hedgehogs. Don't complain about it." Terry objected, stumbling slightly as they started to move up a hill.

"I didn't care about the whole magic-hedgehog thing, Gee and Dee were my faithful companions!"

"Not very faithful, apparently." Terry stopped abruptly as he heard a loud chitter and looked down to see either Gee or Dee glaring up at him with his little hedgehog eyes like he was a monster. Terry grimaced and moved out of the way for Justin.

"He's your weirdly obsessive hedgehog thing. Just-get it away from me."

"Gee is not an _it,_ thank you very much!" Justin retorted, scooping the hedgehog into his arms, "Now, Gee-gee, where is Dee?"

Gee seemed to shift nervously before burping up a spine that looked suspiciously like a hedgehogs. Justin and Terry didn't move for a second before Justin screamed loudly and flung the hedgehog away from himself, running rapidly down the trail, wand held in front of him to light the way. Terry was a half-second behind him, just as utterly creeped out as Justin was.

"WHAT THE BLOODY HELL!" Terry shouted, "I didn't think the creepy thing was a cannibal! Why does this whole valley have to-argh!"

…

Sei cackled madly through the link, dropping the modified _imperius_ without a thought as the few students who had been watching the two boys joined in his slightly maniacal laughter.

 _...Sei Verrick, you utter bastard…._ Reid complained, though he sounded just as amused as Sei was … _.I was under the belief that you_ weren't _insane, though I suppose I am wrong…..._

… _.Not insssane!..._ Syrul hissed in objection, the naga paying attention for the first time since the start of their 'quest' to Altair ... _incredibly amussssing, perhapssss…._

… _.I think I've given them nightmares!..._ Sei cried in delight … _..First to terrify the students!..._

… _..Well done!...s_ omeone called through the link… _.can it be a competition? Who can terrify them the most?..._

 _...Only for the ones not yet in Altair…._ Reid suggested drily, … _.I don't believe that Aizaguirre would much appreciate anyone causing chaos in the school….._

… _.So that's a yes?..._

… _.Go ahead….._

…

 _[September 3, 1994 :: 45 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Ronald Weasley]_

Ron and Hermione were both asleep in the sleeping bags Hermione had transfigured after giving in to Ron's complaints. She hadn't even managed to get him to walk another kilometre, stubbornly laying down and refusing to move, citing exhaustion as a valid reason to not continue. They both had slept rather well, but had forgotten to set an alarm for the next day. They would have likely slept close to the mandated arrival time, had the Altair students not decided to step in.

Ron was surprisingly the first to notice, swatting sleepily at a bug that had crawled up his arm in annoyance before slipping back into sleep, only for the bug to be replaced by two, then four, then eight others.

Ron woke up with a bleary shout, groping blindly for his wand to light a _lumos._ As soon as he saw what was crawling over him, he screamed.

" _SPIDER!"_ Ron shouted in terror, jumping to his feet even inside the sleeping bag, only to trip with his inability to walk. He crawled out of the bag desperately even as Hermione woke to see spiders cover one of her arms. It wasn't long before she joined Ron in screaming, crawling out of the sleeping bag and flailing wildly to remove the spiders from her arms.

They were both quickly on their feet, running down the trail _the wrong way_ to get away from the spiders. By the time they had calmed down and gotten rid of the spiders, they were an entire three kilometres behind where they had started, and utterly lost and confused.

…

… _...Now that, boys…._ a student drawled, amusement colouring his tone… _.is a proper 5 AM wake up call, don't you think?..._

Sei just cackled in delight with the various other Altair students as they took out the annoyance that had grown the more they had to listen to the Hogwarts students spew vitriol about non-human magical races.

They deserved it, anyways.

…

It was a few hours later when two Altair students apparated in, both wearing the silvery-blue Altair cloak and an utterly unamused expressions. The one in front grinned cheekily, revealing two incredibly sharp fangs. He stalked forwards, doing his best to scare the two Hogwarts students. The too-long fangs were fully on display as he crept forward with predatory movement.

"Sei…." the other murmured, smiling darkly to reveal fangs even sharper than the first vampire, "Don't… _scare_ the poor things."

"Reid," Sei shot him an hurt expression, "my dearest, darling Reid… I can't believe you would think so lowly of me!"

Hermione squeaked, and Ron let out a weak shout as he stumbled backwards. Ron clutched his wand as he pointed it at them in an attempt to look confident. "S-stay away from me, vampire!" he cried fearfully.

"Really, kiddie?" Sei drawled sarcastically, baring his fangs, "You don't think you could _possibly_ beat one of us a fight, do you?"

A split second later he had snatched the wand from Ron's hand and tossed it to Reid with a snort, before quickly taking Hermione's too as she tried to cast a spell at him. Sei fiddled with either end of of her wand before pinching it between his fingers as if he was going to snap it.

"Just one… tiny… little _snap,_ and you would be powerless, little girl…."

Hermione squeaked, stumbling backwards in fear.

Sei beamed happily, "Kidding, girlie."

Hermione looked abruptly confused as Sei handed her back her wand and Reid stalked forward to hand Ron his own wand. They took their arms in unison and twisted on their heels, apparating them to the Altair medical wing. (It was painted a pale blue, mind. The Altair teachers could be cruel, but they would never make patients undergo the torture of a pure-white infirmary.)

...

 _[September 3, 1994 :: 70 kilometres from Altair Institute of Magic, with Draco Malfoy]_

Draco was sleeping. So was Michael. Daphne was scowling at Blaise as he hexed both of them so they were literally blue and purple. Blaise was just grinning like a loon.

"We aren't going to make it anyways." He said shamelessly, "I may as well have a little bit of fun." Daphne rolled her eyes, but gave him rather cruel suggestions to try on the two sleeping boys.

"I personally suggest inverting their vision." someone drawled from behind them, causing Daphne to spin around, wand at the ready and pointed at the person who had appeared from nowhere.

"I hope you still remember me," he said in a faux-hurt tone, pressing one hand over his chest, looking unconcerned at the silent threat Daphne was sending. They _did_ remember him, actually, it was Lorenzo-one of the two siblings who had shown up to helpfully inform them that they had to _hike_ to the Institute. Daphne lowered her wand, tucking it back into the coat she had transfigured from her cloak.

"Good."

"What's the spell to invert eyesight?" Blaise interrupted before Lorenzo could take them off to Merlin-knew-where.

" _Contrerium mutât ocularis._ " Marcus cast, flicking his wand at the two sleeping boys to hold the spell, before immediately replicating a sound not unlike an hawk's screech to wake him up.

Draco jumped to his feet before he knew what he was doing, screaming abruptly cut off as he teetered to the ground almost immediately after. Michael didn't do much better, falling back to the ground as he looked around in confusion, blinking rapidly.

Blaise laughed uproariously as Marcus turned some of their clothing into portkeys and they were swept away to the infirmary.

…

 **Okay, so Katzztar mentioned that he kind of forgot (how dare you! Kidding, kidding) about who was who, so I'll give you a little rundown of the people I've mentioned. I'll do these every few chapters so you don't forget who's who.**

 _Riveren Aizaguirre::_ HEADMASTER of Altair, Vampire of over 2,000 years of age

 _Alish Mercuriel::_ DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS of Altair, weather fae

 _(?) Solaris::_ Professor at Altair, Vampire, accompanied Mercuriel to Hogwarts

 _(?) Ircoriel::_ Professor at Altair, Elder Vampire

 _(?) Riveras::_ Nature Magic Professor at Altair, nature fae

 _(?) Vesalien::_ Healer at Altair

**I think this is all the teachers that were mentioned

 _Sei Verrick::_ VAMPIRE, close ally of Marcus, Reagan and Reid

 _Reid Strelem::_ VAMPIRE, close ally of Marcus, Reagan and Sei

 _Syrul::_ NAGA, slightly more convoluted humour

 _Gabel Malwick::_ HUMAN, seems to know a lot of random things about practically everyone

 _Marcus Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, introduced Hogwarts students to Altair 'trial' to get there, brother of Reagan

 _Reagan Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, introduced Hogwarts students to Altair 'trial' to get there, sister of Marcus

 _Lirienne Jordan::_ WEREWOLF, Marcus's girlfriend

 _Soren Mallouren::_ FAE, highly antagonistic towards non-fae, especially daemons, vampires and humans

 _Lorcan I'vores::_ EARTH DAEMON, has a debt owed by Callisto

 _ **Another**_ **thing Katzztar mentioned that I thought I should bring up::**

The different spellings of demon/daemon. 'Daemon' is the more 'proper' spelling but is mostly pronunciation-daemon is pronounced "DAY-mon"-and is used generally by Altair students over the Hogwarts students, who unknowingly improperly say it as "DEE-mon."

 **Just, you know, if you wanted to know.**

 **The next chapter will FINALLY have the Hogwarts students at Altair! Hooray! I have no idea when I will post this chapter because I have this entire chapter pre-written on friggin' SATURDAY like a total badass, because I have to work on homework tomorrow so, not-yeah.**

 **~InsubstancialCookies**


	12. Chapter 12

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _."To the infirmary!" one cried, and it seemed to turn into a battle cry, with various sprites rushing down and carrying all four girls quickly to the infirmary._

 _It was a few hours later when an Altair student apparated in, wearing the silvery-blue Altair cloak and an utterly unamused expression. He didn't speak as he stalked forward and grabbed the upper arms of the slightly terrified students, merely twisting on his heel and apparating them to the Altair medical wing._

 _Blaise laughed uproariously as Marcus turned some of their clothing into portkeys and they were swept away to the infirmary….._

…

 _Word Count: 2,396_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Altair Institute Medical Wing]_

Callisto woke with a slightly pained groan, blinking up at the blue paint of the ceiling. She could tell from the smell of antiseptic and illness that this had to be the infirmary, but she didn't get how it wasn't _white._ Not that she was complaining, or anything, but she wasn't used to infirmaries not being pure white. It was a welcome change, honestly.

"Good morning, Miss Potter." someone said, voice clearly female and kind, though it held a steely edge that made Callisto think that she would never try to cross the woman it belonged to. "It's 6:30 in the morning, on September third." she continued as Callisto opened her mouth to ask exactly that, "I got all of the manticore poison out of your system-you should have a nearly perfect immunity to almost all poisons and venom by now, not that you should test that any time soon-and healed you up nicely. The other groups should be getting brought here soon, as far as I'm aware only your group and two boys-Boot and Finch-Fletchley, I do believe-arrived on time."

She sighed and walked into Callisto's line of vision, helping her sit up on the hospital bed with experienced motions. "I'm Adrea Vesalien, both Altair's head Healer and one of the healing magic professors here. Just give me a minute to check that everything healed properly and you can take a shower-your bag is just there."

She gestured expertly at small table towards the side, flicking her wand in complicated gestures and seemingly flawlessly understanding all of the information that hovered over Callisto in silver lettering. Adrea Vesalien was an older witch by muggle standards, with light blue eyes and curled black hair that was pulled back with a headband. She was wearing what looked similar to a classic muggle nurse's outfit, which was a soft, dull gray. Callisto got the impression that she was a more dangerous Madam Pomfrey, and sincerely didn't want to annoy her.

"Uhm…" Callisto started hesitantly, "Do I address you Healer or…?"

"Healer Vesalien will do."

"Healer Vesalien," Callisto amended quietly, "Do you know where my friends are?"

"Those girls the sprites brought you in with?" the healer waited until Callisto nodded to continue, "They slept in here, didn't want to be separated from you, but some of the sprites showed up a half hour ago and dragged them out to play. Miss Lovegood seemed delighted, though the other two looked a little like they wanted to stay with you. Miss Abbott kept asking me questions about the spells I was using-I expect to see her in my healing class, assuming she was the one who splinted your leg?"

"Yes ma'am." Callisto nodded, and Vesalien seemed delighted to have a new student, "She's always studied healing magic-she helped the mediwitch at our school-"

"Mediwitch?" Vesalien interrupted, affronted, "They only had a _mediwitch_ at that school of yours? I saw all sorts of injuries that tracked four years, Miss Potter, and they were the sort that any experienced _healer_ would have trouble dealing with."

She scowled, muttering, "No wonder most of them were improperly healed."

"Madam Pomfrey was a good-"

"-good mediwitch, perhaps, but not a _Healer,_ Miss Potter." the healer scolded, "Every student at Altair with the capability to perform healing magic must obtain a degree in medical magic, enough to qualify as a mediwitch. It is a graduation requirement, and certainly not nearly acceptable to work in _any_ hospital, let alone a school hospital!"

"Sorry, Healer Vesalien." Callisto murmured, admonished, trying not to retort that Madam Pomfrey had healed a _lot_ of things for her before, and she'd never had any problem. "Could I perhaps take that shower now?"

"Get your clothes out first, Miss Potter." the healer said with a nod, gesturing towards a door to the side, "Bathroom's are over there, I'll see if I can't get one of the sprites that are always hovering around here to tell your friends to come back."

"Thank you, Healer Vesalien." Callisto said gratefully as she stood to get her clothes and quickly moved to take a rapid shower, scowling at the scar the manticore had left, thoroughly annoyed at her tendency to get herself injured _all of the time._

As she opened the door to return to the main hospital wing, she was wrapped in a tight hug by Hannah almost immediately, only to be crushed against her as Susan and Luna joined in on the hug.

"Lu-lu, Susie, Hannah," Callisto said, laughing, "I'm _fine!_ I told you I would be fine, and I am."

Hannah didn't let go of her, holding her tighter as she scolded Callisto on all of the things that could have possibly gone wrong, and what if they hadn't found the hippogriffs or what if they'd run into another challenge. Callisto took all of the concern with an almost grateful smile, letting Hannah cling to her for another few minutes.

"Terry and Justin are here." Luna says dreamily, "I think Justin had a run in with nargles, though, because he seemed a little confused."

Susan shook her head in amusement before explaining to Callisto, "They got here around six this morning, so we still beat them. None of the other groups got here-Terry said they and Granger and Weasley had split up-but one of the sprites mentioned that some other students would bring them here at seven when the time was up."

"Healer Vesalien mentioned they got here…" Callisto mused before a thought came to her, "I thought they said two and a half days, not just two?"

"Yes, about that-" a new voice interrupted, easy going and slightly embarrassed, "Our deputy headmistress got annoyed at how many people kept asking when you lot would arrive and cut it short. Only by about three or four hours, but still."

The four girls turned to see two men-well, if one of them could be called that. There was what had to be a naga-Callisto had only ever heard about them, never seen one-with a silvery-black scaled tail that stretched across the floor behind him for over five feet and curly blond hair that seemed so _odd_ for it to be combined with the tail, slitted blue eyes and sharp, fanged teeth that were shown off by his relaxed smile.

The other-the one who had spoken-looked mostly human, except for the slight tips of his ears and the sharper teeth. He had odd blue-green hair that looked natural, rather than dyed, and sea-green eyes. His arms were held behind him and he was wearing what must have been the Altair cloak. He was adorned with much fewer weapons than I'vores had had, but there were still four daggers visibly tucked into his clothing.

In contrast, the naga wasn't even wearing clothing, nor seemed to have any weapons with him, instead having an incredibly adorned necklace made from feathers, with bright gemstones of all variety placed intermittently between them. He looked utterly at ease and not at all uncomfortable with the goggling stares the girls had pinned him with almost immediately.

Luna, unsurprisingly, was the first to realize she was being rude and bounced forward, beaming happily. In the same dreamy manner she did most everything, she held out her hand with a brilliant smile, "Hello, Mr. Fae, Mr. Naga!"

Callisto's lips twisted as she too snapped out of it, stance relaxing from the defensive position it had taken instinctively and she nodded graciously at the two males. Susan seemed hesitant now, stance tense and eyes wary, though she didn't seem nearly as afraid as Hannah appeared.

The naga _slithered_ forward and held out his hand to Luna, delicately pressing a kiss to the back of it. It was this that made Callisto realized that she might very well end up speaking in Parseltongue, and she was suddenly incredibly worried. Though everyone at Hogwarts knew about it, most of them had complained that it was an evil and dark skill-not that it made any sense for a _language_ to be evil-and Callisto was wary of speaking, especially as she couldn't tell when she switched languages.

"Ssssyrul," the naga introduced himself, a hiss present in his words "Thisss isss Olivier Volren, sssss…. a fae of the water variety…."

"I can introduce myself just fine, Syrul." Volren scolded, "I don't need you to do it for me." he turned back to the students, assessing them silently. He nodded after a moment, almost as if he had decided that they were good enough and turned on a heel, beckoning them to follow.

"The two boys, Boot and Finch-Fletchley, or whatever, are just outside. The others will bring the other Hogwarts students right here to the hospital wing, but we'll wait in the atrium for them." he looked back with a grin here, "You kiddies will get more time for breakfast, then."

Syrul waited until they had passed him before following, apparently not wanting to accidentally trip someone with his trail. Callisto hung back in the group, looking slightly hesitant.

"Um…" Callisto paused, glancing at Syrul as she walked, looking uncomfortable, " _§§..I don't..."_

She stopped abruptly when Syrul froze, swaying slightly as he turned to face her. " _§§..Did you…. You are a Sssspeaker….."_

" _§§..I…. yesss, I am."_ Callisto said hesitantly, " _§§..I've always been able to ssspeak to ssserpentss, though I can't control it mosst of the time…"_

Contrary to looking hostile, like Callisto had honestly expected, Syrul looked utterly delighted. " _§§..You can't choose when you ssspeak, then? Ssssilaesss would enjoy teaching a newborn sspeaker…"_

" _§§...Sssilaess?"_ Callisto asked hesitantly, slightly worried about what she had just gotten herself into. " _§§..and newborn..?"_

" _§§..You have no experiensse ssspeaking,"_ Syrul hisses, an amused glint in his eyes, " _§§..Thusss you will be addressssed asss a newborn sspeaker. Sssilaess is the teacher of the sssserpent magicss."_

He moved forwards, gesturing for her to catch up with the group a while ahead of them. His stance was slightly different this time though, almost protective as he moved ahead of Callisto. Callisto blinked in bemusement, following anyways as he moved forwards lazily.

" _§§..I will let Sssilaess know you ssspeak, asss well as the othersss."_ He nodded regally as soon as they caught up to the others, before drifting away, presumably to find the Silaes he had spoken of. Volren had paused at the doors to outside and was looking back at them with a crooked eyebrow raised in a silent question.

Callisto didn't bother saying anything, only smiling in a rather nervous manner and looping her arm through Luna's. Volren rolled his eyes but led them outside anyways, towards the massive atrium Callisto had only seen briefly. Atrium, however, was a name that didn't nearly give it justice.

The area was mostly wide open, with distinctly Greek columns spread around unevenly, vines and plants climbing up their sides, draping across the ground to bloom in fluorescent flowers that smelled sweeter than a rose and painted in colorful blossoms of pink, blue, violet and red. At the tops of the pillars there were occasionally large triangular coverings that cast shade down upon the ground. Under one of the larger coverings there was a large table that was piled with all sorts of food. Various different species would flutter by and snatch up food before moving back to the groups they were with.

There were large garden areas spread about, each one filled with an odd type of faerie that looked more like a small child that had been gifted wings than what the books had described, and different sprites that each looked incredibly flamboyant with their colorful outfits and hair that seemed to be made from whatever element they came from. There were various fauns trotting about chewing on some of the greener food, occasionally trying to steal from or trick the other students.

Almost every student wore a different type of clothing, each with wildly different hair colors and vibrant eyes, confident stances and relaxed grins. They looked assertive within each of their groups, unflappable by the unorganized chaos around them that seemed to have a balance of its own. There was not one being who looked out of place, and each and every one of them looked like they had a purpose, a _reason_ for existing.

In one corner, Callisto noted with surprised, were various different beings that seemed to be challenging each other to see who could produce the hottest and largest fireballs, hurling them upwards to combust in the sky. There were fire sprites there, and what she had to assume were the fire type of fae and daemons each pushing the other further until what Callisto realized was a _human_ _teacher_ walked up, annoyed, and flung a massive fireball into the air, letting the fire rain down on them with a snarl.

Callisto turned startled eyes to Volren only to see him grinning smugly at all four of them in amusement. Luna was beaming as if she'd just been given the greatest Christmas gift ever, and Susan and Hannah both looked surprised, and rather wary. Callisto scanned the area again, noticing that you really couldn't tell whether someone was human, were, vampire, demon or fae, not to mention the shifters, veela and incubi Remus had mentioned. There were a few of what had to be elves who seemed to hold themselves with far too much pride in various groups, though they were rather distanced from the rest.

There were also various of what Callisto assumed were dwarves, who weren't as short as you would first think, with the tallest just barely over five foot tall. They, in contrary to what many people imagined, didn't all have long beards, but did seem to have a tendency to grow out their hair and have it braided intricately, occasionally with gemstones twisted into the long braids.

The sprites were the first to notice the new arrivals, spinning around with swirls of fire or water, dancing over plants and sometimes disappearing _through_ other groups with complicated twists and twirls as they danced towards the Hogwarts students.

"Be careful with the sprites," Susan whispered into her ear, "They had us play with them earlier. They are really energetic. It's kind of like a mix of Luna and the Weasley twins."

Callisto blanched.

…

 **Oh, boy!**

More than a hundred followers? Over 70 favorites? 6,900 views? Almost 40 reviews? *collapses dramatically*

 _Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou._ If you didn't get that: _thank you!_

It's very very awesome to realize people are enjoying what I'm writing, and that some even take the time to write a positive review (or if you're Katzztar, a really long, never-ending review that helps me improve my story). When I first started this, I honestly wasn't sure if I would ever bother to finish it. I guess I kind of have to, now!

Also: I've been reading Lord of the Flies in school lately, and I'm worried about writing, because I'm pretty sure my writing will end up royally messed up due to it and my tendency to mimic whatever I'm listening to/reading while I write. Yeah…. Sorry if the next few chapters are a little… erghh.

Well, um… ta~!

~InsubstancialCookies


	13. Chapter 13

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _.."Be careful with the sprites," Susan whispered into her ear, "They had us play with them earlier. They are really energetic. It's kind of like a mix of Luna and the Weasley twins."_

 _Callisto blanched….._

…

 _Word Count: 1,845_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Atrium of Altair Institute of Magic]_

Thankfully-Callisto thought with a grimace-the sprites had been cut off by the approach of Terry and Justin, who were accompanied by a rather familiar earth demon, Lorcan I'vores. I'vores and Volren seemed a little uncomfortable with the prospect of being anywhere near each other for a reason unknown to Callisto and only greeted each other with stiff nods.

Justin looked just as eager as Luna did, and Callisto had the sudden realization that he was a muggleborn, and likely hadn't heard the stygma surrounding all of the different beings that were there.

Callisto _had_ grown up muggle, but Remus had explained a lot of the different magical races to her after she had asked, no wanting her to accidentally offend anyone. Remus _hadn't,_ however, mentioned demons, fae _or_ elves, and had only touched briefly on sprites, long enough to mention that they were _literally_ whatever elements they represented, given a body and mind-of sorts. Their bodies were literally made from whatever element they were from (fire sprites made from fire and so on) just given a little more physical of a body so they could interact with their surroundings.

A sprites personality also matched their element, though all were playful. Water sprites would be calmer (in that they could actually walk around without floating or disappearing every other second), fire sprites would be more temperamental, air sprites would be more whimsical and more disconnected to their surroundings, and earth sprites tended to be, well, 'down-to-earth'.

As far as Callisto could figure out, fae and demons just were gifted with a focal element they could use better than the others… except that didn't sound right at all. She supposed that she would just have to ask Volren or I'vores later.

"When do you suppose the others will fetch the other groups?" I'vores asked Volren as they guided the Hogwarts students to an out of the way table that had far less students surrounding it than the others.

Volren scoffed and rolled his eyes at the demon, "The two vampires have likely traumatised whoever they went to get, and Marcus probably did _something_ to his group, so they'll be with Vesalien until she patches them up. Or doesn't bother to patch them up, actually, if they end up annoying her."

"Your healer can refuse to heal someone?" Hannah asked, slightly disturbed, "Isn't she obliged to heal everyone she can?"

I'vores actually laughed, though Volren only grinned and shook his head in amusement, "If that's a culture shock for you, I can't wait for you to be in class."

"What's different about the classes?" Susan asked, concerned.

I'vores and Volren exchanged a glance and seemed to debate telling them. Their original antagonism seemed all but gone, apparently having decided that disliking the other would be far too much work if they had to work together for the time being. I'vores opened his mouth as if to respond before shaking his head, "We'll get Marcus to tell you, he's one of the few students here who has any experience outside of their own family-well, within basic human cultures, I mean."

"Most of us were tutored privately and only interacted within our own race before attending Altair." Volren elaborated for the demon, "I, as a water fae, didn't even interact with fire or air fae before coming. Some of the faes have more interaction, but it's rarely the elemental fae."

"I interacted out of just the daemon races." I'vores said bluntly, "I'm not a pathetically insular fae, after all."

Volren turned to him, baring his teeth viciously as he snarled. I'vores didn't even react much more than shifting positions slightly to have easier access to to the daggers he was once again wearing.

The six Hogwarts students looked rather startled at the unexpected confrontation, though Luna seemed to be mostly pouting. Callisto was the one to speak up, brave enough to shift the aggression of the two males to herself.

"Would you mind explaining what exactly demon and fae are?" she hedged, leaning away slightly as both scowled, "I just-didn't think I should trust what a book says!"

I'vores seemed to relax more at that, though Volren seemed even more annoyed. " _Humans!_ " he said spitefully, "Mixing us with those things they call _fairies_ and with _elves_ , even! Little stereotyping bastards, thinking that we would be so boring as to have no variation!"

His annoyed exclamation did nothing to ease the discomfort of the humans nearby, but all seemed senseful enough not to object to the derisive comments about the human race.

"I personally like what they did to daemons." I'vores sounded amused, "I mean, they wont even whisper about in some places! Sure, they mixed and matched us with other races, but it's just fine. I know that quite a few of the High Immortal daemons had a lot of fun playing with little humans and making them write a _book_ about why you shouldn't play with demons!"

"Um…" Justin frowned, "Do you mean the Bible?"

"Definitely! However, Luc'reiver was slightly upset that they messed his name up and made him out to be such a bad person!"

"You mean Lucifer?" Justin had started edging away from the demon, a terrified expression on his face.

I'vores either didn't notice it, or ignored it as he nodded gleefully, "Of course! Although, Luc'reiver is a different type of daemon, that have died out entirely except for the oldest who don't particularly want any more to show up."

This didn't help Justin, whose parents were rather religious and had freaked out over Justin being a 'witch' (they didn't calm down until Professor McGonagall explained the origin of Magic to them). Justin was moving as far as he possibly could from the demon,

"I thought Luc'reiver was just a shadow daemon." Volren commented, frowning.

"Luc'reiver is an aether daemon-there hasn't been an aether daemon or fae born in thousands of years-which are the highest class of daemon. I mean, seriously, Luc'reiver outclasses every dark and shadow daemon-the second highest daemon class-by a ton. His close guild are the closest you would get to his power level. Comparing him to a common shadow or dark daemon would be like comparing Ircoriel to Charel Johannas"

" _Who?"_ Terry interrupted, confused. I'vores rolled his eyes as if the comparisons he was using should be common knowledge.

"Caracalla Ircoriel is the oldest surviving vampire by over two hundred years. He teaches here for the fun of it, I think. He's nearly a thousand years older than Headmaster Aizaguirre, and about five hundred years older than Professor Solaris. Johannas is a half-born vampire that hasn't even reached her five hundredth birthday. She works here as one of the librarians, and helps with combat classes occasionally."

"Half-born vampire?!" Susan asked, nose scrunched in confusion.

"They are human magicals turned past their eighteenth birthday-which is the youngest you can be turned and not immediately killed-their magic ends up slightly mangled due to the vampiric magics or something. You'll have to ask one of the vampires about it. They just aren't as powerful as the vampires turned at an age where they would grow up as a vampire."

"What?" Callisto asked, utterly confused, "I'm not even going into the Lucifer-is-real but-just-a-really-old-demon thing or even the halfborn vampires that I've never even heard about before, but you still haven't answered what a demon or fae were."

I'vores grinned crookedly at her, "Daemon and fae are representations of the inherent magic within something. Daemons are considered 'dark' because we draw off of the more chaotic magic within something, while fae draw off of the ordered parts of the magic."

"What he means," Volren spoke over the demon, scowling slightly, "is that sprites, which are representations of purely the elemental and physical parts of something, and only contain a little bit of magic, fae draw off of the innate magic within something. A water fae, for example, contains the willpower and force of water, like say-the constant tides or currents within the ocean. Sprites are just the physical water."

"Daemons," I'vores spoke up, "are the opposite. As a fae would be the balanced consistent tides, a daemon would be the waves, a whirlpool or a hurricane. Earth daemons are based off of earthquakes and landslides while a fae would be the growing nutrients or consistently shifting plates of the earth."

By this point, I'vores and Volren had nearly surpassed what most of the Hogwarts students could understand, having believed that natural disasters were caused by furious magic. Justin and Callisto, having-albeit limited-knowledge about nature leaned forward in interest.

"That doesn't mean fae can't deal in storms, though." Volren said, annoyed, "The deputy headmistress of Altair is a weather fae, which are the fae that mostly deal in normal rainstorms or milder earthquakes that _need_ to happen. Deputy Mercuriel is different from most fae because of the way she dives into the chaotic weather as well as the balanced."

"Mercuriel would have made a better daemon, and you know it." I'vores taunted, unaffected by the affronted glare Volren shot his way.

"So…" Callisto hedged, wanting to stop the two from potentially physically attacking one another. "What are veela and incubi, then? Something I read mentioned they were subsets of fae and demons."

Volren tilted his head, debating how he should answer, "Veela _are_ a subdivision of fae, and incubi of daemons." he paused, grimacing slightly, "It's very similar to the chaos-balance rule most fae and daemons follow. Veelas represent passion and love during sex, and incubi represent…"

"They represent the most intense sex you would ever have." I'vores deadpanned, "Lust and sexuality. They are the more carnal desires in comparison to the rather soft edges of veela. Veela can have violent temperaments-fine line between love and hate and all that-but incubi can seduce pretty much anything. The only other races nearly as sexual as them are possibly vampires, but that's mostly because it's one of the few ways they can feel."

" _What?"_ Susan blurted, "That's not anything I've ever-"

The raised eyebrows of the two _actual_ fae and daemon were all she needed to flush in embarrassment. Callisto had taught her often enough not to put all faith in what you read and heard, Susan's childhood crush on "Harry Potter" were proof enough of that.

"Sei and Reid can explain vampires to you." I'vores said decisively, "and you can figure out the others as you go."

"You won't have to figure out the others as you go." Volren corrected, rolling his eyes, "I think Mercuriel organized something of a culture class, if only to make sure you don't get yourself tortured to death within the first week."

" _What?!"_ Terry, Susan and Hannah shouted at the same moment. Justin looked appalled, and Callisto slightly concerned. Luna still looked rather confident, beaming the two nonhumans. I'vores scowled at Volren, annoyed at his brash bluntness and incompetency at _not mentioning the possible torture_.

"Oh look!" Volren deflected poorly, inching away from I'vores "It's Marcus and the vampires! With your Hogwarts buddies!"

…

 _ **A few things:**_

This chapter was shorter because I'm uninspired currently and incredibly tired but I still wanted to be able to post something on Monday. Also: If you're upset about the Lucifer/Luc'reiver thing, _sorry?_ They aren't the same people, Luc'reiver is _made up_ for _entertainment_ and plot advance. This fic isn't about to get theological/religious or something, so don't worry about that.

Alright: so this chapter was much more like a filler chapter, but the next chapter might contain something relatively important/not boring, so yay! I also didn't really like how I wrote this chapter, and basically just didn't like how I wrote it...

~Insubstancial


	14. Chapter 14

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _."Oh look!" Volren deflected poorly, inching away from I'vores"It's Marcus! With your Hogwarts buddies!"..._

….

 _Word Count: 2,859_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Atrium of Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Potter!" Draco shouted, seething as he stood across from her. He gestured madly to his face, where there were thin new scars crossing sporadically in pale pink lines. Normally, they would make someone appear brave-or at least strong-but on Malfoy they just made Callisto want to laugh. "These are your fault!"

"Oh, be quiet, Draco." Blaise laughed, shaking his head in amusement and sharing a glance with Daphne that had her mouth twitching in amusement as the four purebloods took a seat, Michael Corner and Draco Malfoy looking a little upset at being forced to sit with _Gryffindors_ and _Hufflepuffs_ of all people. Ron and Hermione joined them a moment later, both moving as far away as they possibly could from the five Altair students now sitting there.

I'vores' eyes glinted in amusement as he studied the new arrivals, waiting a moment for the new three Altair students to sit. Callisto noted that one of them was Marcus Lorenzo and the other two what appeared to be vampires.

"Welcome to Altair." Lorenzo said, a glint in his eyes, "If you forgot, I'm Marcus Lorenzo, _human,_ studying for masteries in Illusion and Shamanic magics."

"Reid Strelem." the vampire with duller brown eyes and light brown hair offered, showing off his fangs, "Vampire, obviously. Studying for a mastery in Battlemagic."

"Sei Verrick." the second vampire introduced, "Also a vampire, focus on blood magic and necromancy."

Hermione _squeaked_ at that proclamation, looking for all the world as if Verrick had personally offended her. "Blood magic and necromancy?!" she cried, horrified, "Aren't those dark magics? What about illusion and shamanic magics? Those aren't light magics! Battlemagic? I've never even heard about that-what is it? You shouldn't use dark magic-"

She kept babbling as Verrick turned annoyed, disinterested eyes towards the rest of the Hogwarts students. "Either one of you shut her up, or _I_ will."

Callisto looked like she almost wanted to see what the vampire would do, but thought better of it after noticing Ron's wide, horrified eyes and the anticipatory glee in Draco's. "Granger." she snapped, waiting for Hermione to look at her in horrified fury before continuing, "Sirius taught me some family blood magic, so back off with it being dark, and I taught myself some illusion magic-so bugger off with that, too."

"Callie!" Hermione cried as if personally offended by both proclamations, "You shouldn't practice such horrible magics!"

"Oh for Merlin's sake-" Callisto groaned, already realizing that this conversation would go absolutely terribly and simply silenced Hermione, and then Ron quickly afterwards as he started to complain.

"Just…" Callisto waved her hand almost weakly towards the Altair students, all five of whom looked incredibly annoyed, gesturing for them to continue. "Ignore them?" Callisto suggested feebly, tired already of making sure no one got hurt. No matter how much she was constantly annoyed by the other Hogwarts students, she wasn't about to let any of them get hurt. Call it foolish British loyalty or her 'saving-people-thing' if you wanted, but Callisto genuinely wanted to make sure that the Hogwarts left Altair at least _mostly_ intact.

"Will do." Verrick scowled, before turning to the demon and fae in expectation.

"Olivier Volren, water fae." he offered blithely, "Elemental magics-focus in water, obviously-nature and fae magics, Mastery focus in warding.

"Lorcan I'vores." the demon grinned almost expectantly as he studied the new arrivals, "Focus in earth and offensive magic." he paused for a moment before grinning even wider, "Earth daemon."

He got the reaction he wanted-Hermione recoiling as if she had been struck, and the purebloods not doing any better. The only reason Susan, Hannah and Luna had taken it so well was because I'vores had helped Callisto-and well, Luna was Luna.

Daphne, Draco and Michael all looked a rather terrified, staring with wide eyes at the demon as if he was about to eat them, and Ron had actually fallen out of his seat in horror, landing on the ground and attempting to scramble away (only really managing to crush his half-transfigured backpack and tear the seams) while Hermione crossed herself repeatedly. She may not have been religious _(there's no_ proof _in religion!)_ but she at least recognized what a demon was. Blaise looked rather startled, and inched slightly away from the demon, having been the only one 'brave' enough to sit closer to them.

Callisto was the first to start laughing-she would have had a similar reaction if not for Remus' intense study and preparation sessions-doubling over and wheezing as she saw the dreamily bemused expression on Luna's face as she cluelessly asked why they had reacted that way. Susan snorted a moment later, remembering the explanation I'vores and Volren had been given, just barely managing not to laugh herself. That was, until Hannah, Justin, Terry and Susan all glanced at each other over Callisto's collapsed form and Hannah giggled quietly-breaking the dam for the other three as they laughed as well.

Call it sleep deprivation and desperation wrought from being directionless in the 'wilderness' for three days, but seeing the six poor Hogwarts students react that way was _utterly hilarious_. Lorenzo only glanced at the laughing students before lowering his head onto his hand with a helpless groan. _And I had thought I might be able to keep them alive,_ the human student bemoaned with a mental sigh. Some of the surrounding tables with non-human beings were scowling in the direction of the Slytherin group and Ron and Hermione, looking rather furious. The various different demons that had overheard the crude comments looked a little like they were planning a murder.

The vampires exchanged already drained glances as they saw Callisto compose herself and look utterly serious before crossing herself in a mimicry of Hermione and giggling once again. Callisto glanced up to see the aggravated expressions on the two vampires faces, along with the strained one on Lorenzo and the exasperated image both I'vores and Volren portrayed and managed to draw in a careful breath and calm down. She kicked Susan under the table, and the first six Hogwarts students to arrive slowly calmed down.

"Sorry?" Callisto offered feebly before covering her mouth as she very nearly laughed once again, blinking amused tears out of her eyes.

I'vores scowled at the newly arrived students, which only served to startle them more and edge further away.

"Oh, for the sake of my sanity-!" Lorenzo cried, annoyed, "Lorcan isn't evil or whatever you believe him to be, and if you keep thinking like a simple-minded _idiot_ you'll end up _dead_ or even better, _tortured_ by an annoyed student! Just-shut up, and freak out about it later, or you'll end up with a first-hand course in _pain._ "

"That's not nice." Luna finally joined the conversation, pouting. Callisto rolled her eyes and patted her shoulder. "You'll be just fine, Lu-lu." Callisto commented, amused, "I don't think anyone with sense would even dare to dislike you."

"Right." Strelem deadpanned, giving up and silencing the entire group of antagonistic students and standing, "Because most of you humans are inept fools, we're going straight to Deputy Mercuriel's office, because I think that if you are out among civilization you'll end up _completely ruining it_ and ending up dead. Not that it wouldn't be fun to watch, mind."

There was no protest from the four other Altair students, and the Hogwarts students were either silenced and cowed or eager to see more of Altair and followed them. It was mostly silent, with I'vores or Volren helpfully pointing out differences in species and demon or fae subspecies to Callisto's eager group of six, Blaise and Daphne listening in rather eagerly, while Hermione looked like she would be correcting and objecting to everything being said if she could have.

"Hey Azzie," Luna said a few minutes later, turning and beaming at Callisto in a way that had the three other girls exchanging concerned looks.

"Yes, Moonbeam?" Callisto asked wearily, "What is it?"

"Luke Luck likes lakes, Luke's duck likes lakes," Luna started, the words falling without hesitation from her lips, "Luke Luck licks lakes, Luke's duck licks lakes. Duck takes licks in lakes Luke Luck likes, Luke Luck takes licks in lakes duck likes."

Callisto paused for a moment before opening her mouth, "Luke Luck likes lakes, Luke duck likes lakes, Luck Luck like licks- wait what?"

Luna helpfully repeated it, much to the amusement of the Altair students who could practically _feel_ the aggravation rolling off of her friends. Susan tried saying it next, mixing up the words immediately with an annoyed cry. Hannah got much further than both of them before mixing up and sending a pleading look to Terry and Justin, who both grinned and tried it.

(By this point, Blaise and Daphne were slightly glad they had been silenced with the others earlier, and the other students couldn't help but agree silently. Draco and Michael were sneering in disdain, Hermione looked like she was upset that instead of asking _educational_ questions they were doing stupid foolish pointless things like saying _tongue twisters_ and Ron just looked upset he had missed breakfast.)

"Mister Demon!" Luna cried after all five of them failed repeatedly, "Can you say it?"

I'vores glanced back at her, fully prepared to refuse before stopping at the utterly adorable pleading look Luna was sending him. He blinked rapidly in horror before turning an appalled look towards the other Altair students, all of whom just grinned at him.

"Luke Lucks likes lakes, Luke's duck likes lakes, Luck Luck licks likes, Luke's duck lake licks," I'vores stopped and grimaced, scowling when Strelem and Verrick snorted under their breath, Lorenzo firmly ignoring the rest of his companions in a helpless hope to be forgotten.

" _You_ say it if you think you're so smart." I'vores hissed to Volren when he laughed.

That went on the entire rest of the trip to Deputy Mercuriel's office, which ended up being more than ten minutes long as _some_ of the Hogwarts students repeatedly had panic-attacks at the different beings around and were general nuicances. The good thing was that they got there reasonably fast and without any (physical) harm to anyone, the bad news was that various Altair students had overheard the tongue twister and were now obsessively figuring out how to say it, not about to be outdone by a _fourteen-year-old_ human that had attended _Hogwarts_ of all places.

…

When the tongue twister was passed on into one of Caracalla Ircoriel's classes, he scowled at the student who had whispered it under his breath (mixing up more than half of the words), and proceeded to say the twister flawlessly and without pause and then curse each and every student that had even _thought_ about saying the sentence.

"If any of you" Ircoriel snarled, "repeat _anything_ like this that the little girl thinks up in my class, I will _experiment on you_ with our soul and necromancy students or use you a base for blood spells that require a _lot_ of 'donation'."

(~ _And that was how Luna corrupted all of Altair in less than fifteen minutes, managing to get said 'corruption' banned and summarily eradicated only five minutes after_ that _and also managing to get on the bad side of half of the teachers of Altair. The_ fond _bad side, fortunately. Any student who managed to successfully corrupt students that much older and more experienced than her that quickly deserved to be proud of themselves. That didn't mean they would_ ever _let her talk in class, however~)_

…

Lorenzo knocked politely on the door, waiting for an affirmation to return from inside before pushing the oak door open quietly, gesturing the twelve Hogwarts students in before the five Altair students followed. Altairs' Deputy Headmistresses office was built for comfort, sprawling comfortable chairs encircling a low oval coffee table in the centre, with a wide oak desk that was organized meticulously at one end.

The ceiling was more than ten metres above them, crystals hovering in bursts of different colored light, making it seem almost hauntingly like the summer night sky. Each crystal seemed to hum each time the light in it dimmed or flared, each sounding softly in a quiet parody of windchimes. It was a barely audible dissonance that seemed relaxing rather than stressful, one that seemed to change without a thought to rise and fall with shifting moods.

The entire office seemed to built from a warm wood, a large contrast to the cold stone hallways that were a labyrinth outside of this room. Callisto couldn't help to be safe, even as she heard whispers rise from the other students, silencing spells dissolving the moment they entered the room.

The wall across from the door was covered in wide mirrors, each displaying a different scene, the widest being directly behind the Headmistress and displaying the Altair atrium with precision and the others appearing to be the surrounding valley and different classrooms. The wall to their right was what seemed to be a solid bookcase, scrolls and old tomes covering most of it before changing abruptly to solid black journals collected consistently by each and every Altair Deputy Headmistress or Headmaster to stay there. The bookshelf seemed to be the only thing left unchanged, the wood covered in preserved old designs and runes.

The right wall, in stark contrast to the warm atmosphere that painted the rest of the room, was full of shelves and shelves of weapons and crystal balls that held ghastly smoke that seemed to writhe in pain from their confinements. Part of the wall was a charred black that gave Callisto the impression of ozone and fury, as if it had come from lightning, rather than fire.

The walls were covered in accented designs and spirals depicting furious storms and vastly different species and beings, a massive Thunderbird painted across part of the wall, Native American wizards-shamans, really-and tribal magic spiralling up and seeming to try and contain the chaotic giant. There was also a writhing raijũ, a Japanese spirit of lightning that blistered through its physical and intangible forms, Japanese magicians twisting and seeming to worship its lawless power. Other beasts, each known from their power over the weather, were sprawled across the walls in a display of beauty that seemed to bleed into the cultured and elegantly intimidating form of the Deputy Headmistress Alish Mercuriel.

Mercuriel was sitting behind the desk, eyes flicking through the new Hogwarts students assessing them and noting each of their relationships with one another. Her eyes lingered momentarily on the soft grip Callisto had on Luna's arm to prevent her from wandering, pausing in a mimicry of amusement. Her long, nearly black blue hair was braided in gentle spirals down her back, and her dark blue eyes flashed silver and gold in annoyance or rage, Callisto couldn't tell, as she peered at the students that had spoken against demons and 'dark' magic.

Callisto knew then that this woman-this hauntingly powerful weather fae-could pry every secret from your mouth before you even knew what you were doing with more skill and precision than Albus Dumbledore had ever possessed. It wasn't out of obligation, a need to make him proud of you and look down at you in approval but rather one of fear. A painfully desperate need to be assured that you wouldn't be the next person she impressed her fury upon, a hidden survival instinct that had Callisto's magic cringing away and curling possessively around her three closest friends protectively.

Mercuriel's eyes flicked back to Callisto in wry amusement, to Luna's delighted eyes, to the fear prevalent but hidden by respect in the stances of Hannah, Susan, Terry and Justin. She noted the disgust in Draco, the disdain from Michael, the indecision of Blaise and Daphne, the terror from Ron and the scientific, experimental interest of Hermione that seemed to burst at her seams and Mercuriel smiled coolly, snapping her fingers softly as an unspoken gesture to something unknown and- _oh, oh,_ Callisto thought, as she stared down at the new creature that prowled from behind Mercuriel's desk, slinking around it as the deputy stood.

The creature seemed to be made from captured lightning, liquid chaos and ozone trapped in the lithe body of a handsome wolf that crept forward slowly with a gentle growl. _Raijũ,_ Callisto realized at the same instant Luna did, though their reactions were vastly different. Callisto inhaled sharply as she stared down at the living myth in awe and terror, while Luna beamed down in the same delighted way she always had when she discovered a new creature.

The raijũ crept forward further, predatory as most of the students stumbled backwards, including Susan and Hannah as they looked down in unfamiliarity.

"Raiden, _heel._ " Mercuriel breathed, no louder than a gentle murmur even as the words danced through the entire office, silencing each of the students through the wariness and disdain they were displaying her. Mercuriel smiled, though it was barely more than a momentary flash of sharp teeth and gestured almost lazily for the students to sit.

"Welcome to Altair Institute of Magic."

…

 **Did you know that 'enervate' is actually "** **cause (someone) to feel drained of energy or vitality; weaken"? So basically it does the opposite of what the spell says it does. Alright, that's enough knowledge for today!**

Anyone else notice the weird way my writing style changed halfway through? Yeah, I don't know what happened. I blame the music I started listening to…

I have no idea how this chapter ended up being nearly 3,000 words, like _for [insert random god's name here] sake, Insubstancial, what were you thinking when you wrote this many words and it isn't even an important chapter?_ Um… HAPPY MAY EVERYONE! Actually~ since I plan to post this on Friday, **May the fourth be with you!** Happy Cinco de Mayo or whatever, felicitaciones a México para la victoria sobre Francia (por qué es este día una fiesta de todos modos?)

If you didn't understand that, it really doesn't matter. Instead, you should totally celebrate the 50 reviews, 120+ followers, 90 favourites and 9,500 views I now have. 'Cept I think that only matters to me, but…

To the various guests and others who told me to update: right. yeah. here you go….

I think I had a reason I started writing this author's note, except I already forgot it after thinking about May and Spanish…..

~Insubstanical


	15. Chapter 15

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _."Oh look!" Volren deflected poorly, inching away from I'vores"It's Marcus! With your Hogwarts buddies!"..._

….

 _Word Count: 2,761_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Deputy Headmistress Office, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"If you didn't already know," the Deputy Headmistress continued, "I am Alish Mercuriel, Deputy Headmistress of Altair Institute of Magic."

Michael's expression twisted in disgust, " _What_ are you?" he asked rudely, sneering at the _very powerful_ woman, not sitting as was polite. Callisto was suddenly reminded that Michael was a half-blood who hadn't had the full pureblood manners ingrained into his head. No matter how much you disliked someone-if they offered you a seat and were more powerful than you, you were at least polite.

Mercuriel's eyes narrowed and she gestured coldly with one hand, Michael forcibly pushed down into his seat with almost absent wandless magic. "A storm fae." Mercuriel replied anyway, flicking her fingers again to conjure a soft couch near her for the Altair students who looked incredibly grateful to not need to sit anywhere near the Hogwarts group.

Callisto's eyes had widened at the lazy display of power, almost groaning when she realized-

"Was that wandless magic?" Hermione blurted, "That's not possible! I mean, it's bad enough you're practicing _dark magic_ here but wandless magic shouldn't be possible! Everything I've read says that-"

Mercuriel had sighed halfway through and had almost sarcastically raised her pointer finger and brought it to her lips, wandlessly silencing the know-it-all with only a gesture. "Enough." she said icily, and Callisto couldn't help but be reminded of unforgiving sleet, not quite soft snow or gentle rain but the cool in-between. "First rule of Altair you get to learn; _do not speak without permission around your teachers._ "

Strelem snorted, nudging the other vampire teasingly with his elbow. "At least you learned that one early on," he said dryly, apparently having 'permission' to speak around the fae, "and didn't have to be thrown off of a roof by a pissed off _human_ to get the point."

The offhand statement obviously had an accompanying story, but by the way Verrick bared his fangs in a silent threat it was one that wouldn't be told any time soon. It almost seemed as if the two vampires would continue to bicker before Mercuriel turned to them with only a raised eyebrow, though it silenced them both far quicker than Callisto would expect.

"Later today," the deputy headmistress continued, facing the new students, "Professor Powell will help you choose your classes for the time you spend here. There will be various required classes; Culture and Customs, Medimagic, Basic Runes, Charms, Potions, Physical Combat and Theory of Magic. Some of you will be required to attend additional classes, and I suggest you make the most of your time at an actually decent magical institution."

Callisto snorted at the insult, looking away as nearly all of the Hogwarts students turned to glare at her, while Draco sneered at the weather fae, looking away in disdain, "Hogwarts is the best school in Europe." he said snidely, which made all the Altair students laugh openly, he wouldn't be thinking that in a week or so. That was if he was semi-respectful and listened to the teachers.

"Altair has two mottos, which you will learn apply daily." Mercuriel's voice was cold and almost audaciously daring, now, " _Nescimus cedere. Bella gerant alii mereri nobis."_

Her eyes flicked through the students as they struggled to figure out what it meant. None of them had more than a rudimentary understanding of Latin, learned from the spells and theories they had been taught in Hogwarts.

"We know not how to yield," the five Altair students echoed in eerie synchrony, "Let others wage wars for us to win."

"I'll let you figure that one out." Mercuriel murmured, basking silently in the slightly disturbed looks on most of the new students, enjoying their confusion and fear far more than she probably should.

...

She let the Hogwarts students stew in wary silence for some time, doubting that any of them would be brave enough to speak up, and the one that _would,_ she thought, eyes moving to Callisto Azalea Lilian Potter-Black, one of the greatest British anomalies in recent centuries, the one that _would_ have spoken up had been dutifully distracted by Raiden, Alish Mercuriel's companion, a raijũ who had assumed the shape of a wolf for today and was staring unnervingly at both Potter and Lovegood, watching them in silence as they stared back at him.

Alish couldn't help but open the mental link she and Riveren Aizaguirre had formed as soon as she became his Deputy and projected the image to him in amusement.

… _.Full of surprises…_ Riveren replied humorously, paying slightly more attention to the rather precarious magics he was working on… _.Remind me to suggest to the necromancy and blood magic students to first approach her and actually ask if they can play with her magic. Her response seems as if it would be increasingly amusing the more of her personality is revealed….._

… _.Honestly, Riveren…._ Alish laughed in response, … _.I would think that_ you _wanted to learn the secret of her odd magic…._

 _...You think that I do not?..._

… _..I know you already know everything there is to know about her magic…._ Alish retorted, focusing again on the waiting students, the Altair ones who had already started up a mental broadcast to anyone who bothered to listen and the Hogwarts ones that were getting increasingly… twitchy. … _..As well as your refusal to inform me of it….._

… _..Alish…._ Riveren seemed far too amused in the face of the weather fae's annoyance, … _..Caracalla and Aeldyn both threatened my head as soon as you even mentioned her magic to me. It is a-ah, how should I put it…- it is a specific anomaly, one that has already diverged from the limited past examples of it….._

… _.You've already roused my curiosity, Riveren….._ Alish seemed to scold, … _.now make sure whatever you're working on does not destroy half of the valley in a natural disaster again…._

Riveren didn't respond with anything other than a soft mental agreement before his presence disappeared from Alish's mind as she focused on the students in front of her.

"I suppose," Alish mused, thinking that this would have to be interesting, "That I can answer any questions you have."

Instantly, many of the Hogwarts students perked up, though Potter and Lovegood both seemed to still be distracted watching Raiden as he silently showed off to them, lightning fizzing around the room, taking random shapes and dutifully avoiding actually electrocuting anyone.

The Granger girl-a bookworm know-it-all, Alish assumed in quiet amusement-raised her hand high and waved it about impatiently, as if expecting Alish to call on her. _This wasn't primary school,_ Alish thought, mentally rolling her eyes at the already boorish and bland personality of one of the Hogwarts students.

"Uhm… Miss-Deputy Mercuriel," a girl spoke up, correcting herself hurriedly, _Hannah Abbott,_ the headmistress thought quietly as she raised an eyebrow invitingly. Granger, at this point was making frustrated noises as she scowled at Abbott and tried raising her hand _even higher_. "What exactly is-er, Raiden?" Abbott eyed the raijũ-wolf in trepidation.

"Raiden is a raijũ, a creature of lightning and storms, which originated in Japan. They can assume practically any animal form-Raiden's favorites are the wolf," Alish paused as Raiden shifted into a blue-yellow fox and shambled closer towards Potter and Lovegood, "and the fox."

"Or Pikachu," one of the Altair students snickered from their couch. Alish didn't want to remember the _weeks_ after one of the odder students had shown up only two years ago-he had been studying technomancy, the incorporation of magic and technology, and had shown Raiden some game and Raiden had annoyed her with the a weird lightning-mouse shape for far too long afterwards. It hadn't exactly been pleasant, especially as the same student had charmed him so that the name " _Pika~!"_ would sound every other second. Alish felt gratified every time she thought about the fate that student had received during an… _entirely_ natural thunderstorm.

(Mind you, there hadn't been a single mention of that wretched game ever since. Alish thought she had done pretty well to save all of Altair from _that.)_

"Raiden can _also_ become liquid-well," Alish amends, thinking of the simplest way to explain it to mostly-uneducated students, "Slightly similar to a ball of lightning that can travel on his own."

 _Raiden could_ also _do much more than just that,_ Alish thought in amusement, remembering all of the interesting abilities she had helped him obtain.

"Right…" Abbott's friend, Susan Bones, responded for her, "I don't know if this is-" Bones paused and glanced at Potter, who had only dimly paid attention when Raiden had changed shape but had now tilted her head strangely to peer at the lightning-fox. "Why, exactly, is the valley so filled with… all of what it was filled with."

Alish actually appeared to be aggravated, scowling in memory. "Most of what you met was not actually supposed to be there. Malthus Riveras, the fae nature magic teacher, had a project with some of his students during summer and _idiotically_ underestimated the capabilities of determined animals. I don't believe he realized that leaving a _manticore_ near the entrance after being reminded multiple times of arriving students was an awful idea."

Volren was the only Altair student to look even remotely offended over having a fae be insulted-but that was only a brief flash of indecision before he realized that Alish _was_ a fae, and one older than Malthus Riveras at that.

The Hogwarts students, on the other hand, looked horrified.

"You can't even keep track of what's in your own valley?!" the annoyingly blonde Malfoy shouted, "I can't believe that-"

"Honestly, Malfoy." Potter interrupted, finally pulled away from watching Raiden, "Did _you_ know about the acromantula colony in the Forbidden Forest? Or about the basilisk _inside_ of the school? Or the cerberus?"

As Potter continued, Malfoy seemed to both pale and redden furiously, continuously trying to interrupt only to have Potter speak over him.

"You had a basilisk inside the school?" Strelem interjected, managing to get Potter to pause and look at him, "How old?"

"Over fifteen hundred years old?" Potter hedged, "She was Salazar Slytherin's, though."

"Is she still alive? That's worth a lot." Verrick joined the conversation, easily talking over Malfoy and some of the other students as Alish leaned back to watch.

"Er… no… I kind of killed her."

The utterly annoyed and gobsmacked expressions on the faces of the Altair students was slightly gratifying, Alish couldn't help but to think. In all of her term as Deputy Headmistress-200 years, mind you-she had only twice before seen Altair students and alumni silenced by outsiders (specifically humans under 100 years of age).

" _What!?"_ Lorenzo almost shouted, as the only human he seemed to be horrified at the thought of someone fighting and _killing_ a basilisk. "How old were you!?"

"...Twelve….?" Potter hedged, leaning into her seat.

" _WHAT?!"_ all five of the Altair students cried, and the deputy headmistress couldn't help but mentally echo them, drawing the headmaster's attention as he 'tuned in' to what was happening with Alish. Some of the students had done pretty impressive thing at a young age-particularly the species that aged and matured fasters (namely, vampires, fae/daemons, and elves) but humans weren't supposed to be able to do things like that until they were _older,_ and not even then. Only four humans had ever slain a basilisk without dying, and _all four_ were well older than fifty.

"With what?" Lorenzo finally asks, though he didn't look like he wanted to actually know the answer.

"...a sword?" Potter mumbles, though it is far loud enough for everyone to hear.

Lorenzo draws in a deep breath, ignoring the hilariously dumbfounded expressions on the other Altair student's faces and asks another question. It was going to be harder than he thought to keep the Hogwarts students intact if one of them went off being an idiot and fighting _basilisks_ all of the time. "Do you know how to fight with a sword?"

"...the pointy end goes in to what you want to kill…?" Potter hedged, "I mean, I stabbed the basilisk through the roof of her mouth, and managed to get a fang embedded into my arm in the process, but it _worked._ "

Alish Mercuriel didn't pay attention by what was said afterwards, distracted by the raucous laughter Riveren _and_ Caracalla were projecting over the link.

… _.Humans!..._ Caracalla cried in delight, … _.With the ditzy advanced sight girl in addition to the little saviour, this year will never be peaceful! It is unfortunate that I doubt any of them will enroll in the classes I teach!..._

… _.Or,..._ Alish suggested, agreeing with the feeling that chaos had only just begun, … _.you could teach the culture class I am forcing on them, or even the theory of magic-..._

… _.Caracalla's theory of magic class would be so utterly above their level of comprehension, Alish…._ Riveren murmured, thoroughly amused.

… _.I am definitely not teaching idiotic_ British _humans theoretical magic, and the Culture and Customs class you are enforcing is Sottero's punishment for getting every single one of the beginning blood magic students killed last year. The only reason I left him alive was because Verrick and my other good students had advanced early on and weren't in the class…._

… _.Don't even pretend to be upset about that!..._ Riveren jibed, apparently at ease with the older vampire, … _.You were laughing your ass off for weeks afterwards every time you thought about it!..._

… _..At least William Sottero won't be able_ kill _these students with what he's teaching…._ Alish complained. The paperwork to send to families for ' _unnecessary'_ deaths was incredible, but she filled it out anyways if only to be able to do something with monotonous regularity that she didn't need to pay attention to. That didn't mean she _enjoyed_ it, however.

… _.Want to bet on that?..._ Riveren snarked, adding to Caracalla's mental hum of amusement, before urging Alish to actually pay attention to whatever the Hogwarts students were doing and dropping the link at the same time as Caracalla.

Apparently, Alish _should_ have been paying attention instead of trusting the Altair students to keep it under control, as some of the Hogwarts students-Malfoy, Corner, Weasley and, a little more reluctantly, Granger-were on their feet yelling at _her_ students, who seemed to just barely be holding back from tearing them to shreds. Lorenzo was staring at the crystals hovering by the ceiling while Potter looked like she didn't know whether to laugh, cry or just silence and shut up the other Hogwarts students.

Alish stood with a quick motion, air suddenly crackling with _furious_ ozone and icy wind as she let the aggravation that had rapidly been growing since the arrival of these upstart students spill out. The Granger chit hadn't even lowered her hand-she was quoting random _false_ texts from various books while waving her hand in the air like a primitive _monkey,_ and Alish was beyond aggravated, and had been wanting to _smite_ something for weeks.

The _crack~!_ of lightning that slammed into the floor near the legs of the standing students was loud enough to cause each of the crystal lights to reflect the sound over and over again, filling the room with the sound of a continuous thunderstorm. It had all of the Altair students and most of the Hogwarts ones cringing backwards and stumbling away from the four students that had been arguing.

The ground had blackened, the scent of charred wood filling the air as the four Hogwarts students turned to her in horror, Granger immediately jumping to question after question in rapid fire speech until she was silenced with a slash of Alish's palm.

Alish didn't say anything, only mentally giving the five Altair students the go-ahead to do whatever they wanted to the Hogwarts students. "Powell will help you pick classes," Alish said darkly, scowling at all of the Hogwarts students who winced and looked down at the charred floor, "Boys, show them the way."

It was such an obvious dismissal, every single one of the students leaving as quick as they possibly could, including the Altair students. It was never a good idea to stay around with a pissed off weather fae-or any upset Altair alumnus or teacher, really. Alish remembered the multitude of messes that had been created with their arrival and came to one conclusion as to who caused them as the students hurried out.

"Potter, stay behind."

…

 **Hooray! I finished it! Alright:: here's an updated character list because honestly** _ **I**_ **forgot some of who who was, and I added/introduced quite a few people this chapter. Sort of. Whatever, here's a reminder to who's who.**

 **If I forgot anyone, let me know!**

 **Teachers:**

 _Riveren Aizaguirre::_ HEADMASTER of Altair, Vampire of over 2,000 years of age

 _Alish Mercuriel::_ DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS of Altair, weather fae

 _(?) Solaris::_ Professor at Altair, Vampire, over 2,500 years of age

 _Caracalla Ircoriel::_ Professor at Altair, Elder Vampire, over 3,000 years of age

 _Malthus Riveras::_ Nature Magic Professor at Altair, nature fae

 _Adrea Vesalien::_ Healing Magic Professor and head Healer at Altair, human

 _Silaes::_ Only naga on staff, serpent magic teacher

 _Charel Johannas::_ 500 year old 'half-born' Vampire, librarian and assisstant professor of combat

 _(?) Powell::_ helping the Hogwarts students choose classes

 _William Sottero::_ previously a blood magic professor who apparently got the entire basic blood magic classed killed, now teaching Culture to the Hogwarts students.

 _(…?) Aeldyn::_ seems to have close associations with Aizaguirre and Ircoriel, unknown employment and everything else

 **Students:**

 _Sei Verrick::_ VAMPIRE, studies blood magic and necromancy

 _Reid Strelem::_ VAMPIRE, studies battlemagic

 _Syrul::_ NAGA, has 'assigned' himself as Callisto's naga mentor

 _Gabel Malwick::_ HUMAN, seems to know a lot of random things about practically everyone

 _Marcus Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, studying illusion and shamanic magics, seems to mildly care about the Hogwarts students

 _Reagan Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, sister of Marcus

 _Lirienne Jordan::_ WEREWOLF, Marcus's girlfriend

 _Soren Mallouren::_ FAE, highly antagonistic towards non-fae, especially daemons, vampires and humans

 _Lorcan I'vores::_ EARTH DAEMON, has a debt owed by Callisto, studies earth magic and offensive magic

 _Olivier Volren::_ WATER FAE, studying elemental magic with a focus in water, nature and fae magic

...


	16. Chapter 16

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _."Potter, stay behind."..._

 _..._

 _Word Count: 1,844_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Deputy Headmistress Office, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"...Yes?" Callisto asked hesitantly, stepping back inside the deputy headmistresses office and letting the door shut behind the last student. The last Altair student-Sei Verrick, the vampire-sent her an slightly mocking look as he bared his teeth darkly. It was clear that he was still furious over the crude comments of the other Hogwarts students, and that he wouldn't be distinguishing between _which_ Hogwarts student he expressed it to.

"You will likely get used to it." Deputy Mercuriel commented, looking amused as Callisto sat back down across from her. As soon as Callisto had relaxed slightly, Raiden had jumped onto her lap, shifting from the fox form he had taken to that of a small house cat, curling on his lap and purring. Callisto stared down at the raijũ who was still ejecting soft sparks of lightning in bewildered surprise.

"More and more mysteries…" Mercuriel mused, staring at her thoughtfully before getting back on track.

"You, Callisto Potter, have been a _havoc causing nuisance,_ and you haven't even started Altair yet." the headmistress deadpanned, "Everything you have done since before even arriving-the magic you are practically _bleeding_ , the _sentience_ of it, that is incredibly unusual, and I have been _teaching_ the unusual for centuries."

"Sorry?" Callisto frowned, slightly bemused. She felt her magic buzz softly at the proclamation of its unusuality, feeling a little as if it was pouting. Callisto hesitantly stroked the 'cat' curled on her lap as Mercuriel studied her.

"Don't be." Mercuriel waved it off with one hand. She studied Callisto in silence for a long while before continuing. "Silaes contacted me earlier to inform me that you are a _Parselmouth,_ of all things, and that you will be participating in his Serpent Magics class. Currently there aren't any other parseltongues at Altair, though we had one just a few years ago-he never told anyone that he was a parseltongue and ended up dead halfway through his third year, pity-and Silaes will coincidentally also be working with Liola and Powell, the transfiguration teachers, to help you figure out serpent form and with a few other teachers to make all of the serpent magic easier on you-"

"Sorry-" Callisto interrupted, confused, "But serpent forms? Serpent magic? I got that there was a magic from Syrul, but-" Callisto stopped abruptly as she remembered the earlier mention against interrupting one of the teachers and flushed brightly.

"No one ever told you about the serpent magic you can access as a parseltongue?" Mercuriel questioned, apparently not caring about Callisto interrupting her, "You were never taught the different types of magic? I was already aware of the utterly abysmal teaching at Hogwarts, but you are not even aware of the _basic_ different magic types? I suppose that you are _also_ unaware of the European Purges and consequent Exiles and Massacres that occurred afterwards?"

Callisto was silent for a moment, "I only know vaguely of the Purges because of various books belonging to my godfather, but none of that was taught at Hogwarts. They only teach about two types of magic there anyways-dark and light-though when Remus taught he briefly mentioned wild magic."

Mercuriel looked furious for a moment, the magic in the room surging with her rage and pressing uncomfortably at Callisto's own. Callisto's magic reacted accordingly, fizzing around her almost visibly to deflect her from the majority of the already dissipating magic. Mercuriel seemed to draw in a breath and exhaled audibly, shaking her head in disgust.

"Riveren..." Mercuriel murmurs, though she isn't looking in Callisto's direction, and rather towards the side of her own seat with slight impatience. Callisto only had a moment to remember it as the first name of the Altair headmaster before the shadows behind Mercuriel twisted and seemed to writhe away in pain before coalescing into a single form.

The darker magics surrounding the Altair headmaster had Callisto cringing away from him and accidentally digging her fingers into the lightning fur of the raijũ that had still been laying comfortably into her lap, causing Raiden to jump off in annoyance and shift into his original wolf form with a low thunder-like growl.

The Altair headmaster was tall, golden-eyed and had almost metallic blue-silver hair, Callisto noted immediately, he's also a vampire (there was no mistaking the _fangs)_ and he makes my magic _scream_ in fear and cry warnings of his power. _Not that_ that _wasn't obvious,_ Callisto complained to the rather loud message her magic was sending her.

Though Riveren Aizaguirre had already reeled in much of his magic, (having only let it out to startle- _terrify-_ the little enigma) Callisto still reeled from the overwhelmingly dark and oppressive power that seemed to overflow from the headmaster's tight control, spilling into the surrounding room. The glowing crystals seemed to catch the power, dimming and the once-vibrant colors turning dark and murky as they chimed out a far more mournful sound than they had before.

Even with the magic barely tangible and almost completely suppressed Callisto could feel it's echoes bleeding into her skin-into her _magic-_ and she couldn't help but remember every nightmare she had ever had. She had always associated other people's magic with her memories, and Aizaguirre brought up so many almost-nightmares of impassive adults that never cared for anyone, let alone _her_ and-

Callisto drew in a breath carefully tried calmed her magic, though she didn't bother trying to get it to unwind from the incredibly aware and super-alert mode it had only ever gotten around wizards like Quirrell and Snape.

Aizaguirre's eyes flicked between Mercuriel and Callisto, some hidden emotion disguised by his utterly impassive expression. His eyes seemed to stray on Callisto and she could already tell that he saw something interesting in her magic, that he _knew_ something that she most definitely did not. His lips curved into an amused smile as he sat comfortably next to Mercuriel.

"Hogwarts has turned out to be one of my far more… disappointing…. endeavors that I began, though the four humans who I guided to found it were far more remarkable. Pity, I suppose, that none of them allowed me to turn them." Aizaguirre seemed to take far too much pleasure in the wide-eyed surprise upon Callisto's face as he continued, "I would have hoped that it would have remained a quality school for more than simply one thousand years, but" and he paused with a soft sigh, though he wore a rather amused expression "not everywhere has the prestige of Altair."

"The European schools do seem to have fallen into disarray, have they not?" Mercuriel returned, "I mostly want your opinion on who would be the best to teach the history and origins of magic, along with cultural histories and specifically European based history. It might, at least, knock sense into some of the students."

"It is not the purpose of Altair to guide our students the entirety of their lives. We certainly will not _hold their hands_ while teaching them history. The only times we have _ever_ gone over history is during relevant classes-there has _never been an history class at Altair,_ Mercuriel."

"I was going to suggest combining it with the Theory of Magic class I am enforcing, and having their mentors fill in the gaps."

Though they were speaking aloud, Callisto couldn't help but feel as if it was only for her own benefit, and that they were teaching her a lesson. Callisto realized forlornly that this was one of the few times Callisto and 'her' magic didn't agree with one another-Callisto knew she had to stay there and figured she was mildly safe, while her magic disagreed completely and wanted to _getthefuckawayrightnow_.

Callisto kind of agreed.

…

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Number 12, Grimmauld Place]_

"Sirius!" Remus shouted down the stairs, it had passed the twentieth time he had shouted before Sirius Black stopped counting, caught up in his own worry over his cub, "What if we didn't prepare Callisto right? What if she gets hurt-I thought she would have called over the mirror by now, or at least have owled us!"

"I don't know!" Sirius wailed, "You packed her lots of food, right? Made sure she had all of the necessary potions and-" he was cut off by Remus pained cry, "No, Padfoot! She forgot the potions I sent with her! They are right here and _I can't believe she forgot her potions!_ "

"What if she forgets some of the spells? What if-what if the books we lent her aren't enough information? What if one of-" Sirius had to stop and inhale deeply, having not breathed for quite awhile in his panicked rush.

"What if she's hurt!" Remus cried, "What if one of her friends is hurt!"

This went on for far too long, each repeating the other as they exchanged increasingly depressing and maudlin suggestions for _what went wrong_. By the end of it they had packed a box full of all of the 'essentials' that they thought Callisto would need sooner or later (which ranged from helpful potions to a overload of changes in clothing, two Firebolt racing brooms a portrait of Arcturus Black so that he could help her out-not that he would-two spare wands, a veritable feast under preservation charms and far too much more).

"I don't think she'd appreciate this." Remus said after a moment, staring down at the giant box in slight horror, "She _might_ appreciate you sending her the Firebolt, but I don't think she wants a portrait of the late Arcturus Black."

"Too morbid?" Sirius mused, before the full of Remus' declaration caught up to him.

"We can't send her _anything?_ " he whined, adopting a rather efficient kicked-puppy look, "You were the one to suggest so many changes of clothes! The massive feast of food? _You_ made that! The two spare wands?"

"That was you."

"That was me! See, I suggested _useful_ things-"

"And also the portrait of your grandfather."

"-and also the portrait of my grandfather, but the rest of it was useful!"

"Maybe we should just send her one wand and _some_ food? And half of the potions?"

Remus and Sirius shared a look, debating with one another whether or not they should continue. They looked back at the box overflowing with slightly-useless gifts and nodded in unison, discarding some and modifying the amount of items. Remus would add more and more food while Sirius took it out a moment later, Sirius adding a Quidditch snitch and gloves before Remus removed them both. This went on for far too long before Remus leaned back with an annoyed sigh.

"How about this: we write her a very long, very concerned letter asking if she wants any of this, get her friends to write very long concerned letters as well and send _that_ , to make sure she realizes that we most definitely do care about her." Remus declared, eyes daring Sirius to disagree with him.

"Good idea." Sirius nodded frantically, "Maybe we can send her one of the spare wands and a few potions with the box?"

…

 **I'm so sorry!**

I _meant_ to upload last Friday, and then yesterday, but I didn't because I didn't have this written. I was sick and missed school last Wed-Fri and literally did nothing but lie in bed and drink a lot of water and sleep a really long time. I'm also _really stressed out_ over _TESTING_ this week, so there's that. This chapter isn't as long as I kind of want it to be, but I'll try to upload next weekend with a 2,000+ word chapter, after testing.

Alright, that's enough excuses. I have to go cry and study now.


	17. Chapter 17

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count: 2,477_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Gryffindor Common Room, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry_

The Gryffindor common room-usually a brilliant crimson red with golden accents-had been painted bright green-not even Slytherin green, but bright, _neon_ green-by _someone,_ and the Weasley twins were furious.

"You thinking what I'm thinking, Gred?" one whispered to the other.

"There's someone challenging us for the spot of chief pranksters?" the other asked.

"Well of _course,_ Gred, dearest twin mine…" the two pranksters shared a look before grinning mischievously. The game was on. After Ronniekins had gotten to go to the absolutely _awesome_ school that was Altair Institute of Magic, they hadn't had their favorite pranking target. Their little brother had not been very kind to their ickle Azalea, ( _though,_ they thought with a pout, _little Ginny hadn't been very nice either_ )

Fred and George had been in frequent contact with Messrs Moony and Padfoot after finding out that they were good friends of ickle Azalea (really, the twins had seen Callisto addressing a letter to Moony the previous year and had been incredibly determined to find out who it was-until, at least, Callisto helped them get in contact.) and the two Marauders had great fun teaching two 'apprentices' all about pranking and rule-breaking.

Moony and Padfoot had had far too much fun making the twins look all over Hogwarts to find out their identities (which they still didn't know!) and had helped Callisto prank the twins much of her fourth year.

Fred and George greatly missed their ickle Azalea, who had so quickly retaliated with increasingly creative pranks-though that had only started halfway through her third year, before she had just flinched away from them (much to Gred and Forge's secret concern). Once ickle Azalea had retaliated against the twins, though, it had sparked a two-year prank war (until Callisto's name came out of the Goblet of Fire and the twins had started teaching her sixth-year level spells to help her out.)

The two red-headed twins (and their two eldest brothers, mind) had started to consider ickle Azalea as 'family' the minute she was able to tell them apart and treated them like separate people… which was within an hour of meeting her. The only other to do that was Lee Jordan, though it had taken him far longer.

But back to the prank war.

Fred and George had no idea who was pranking _THE_ Weasley twins-the only ones to do that were the occasional seventh year, and they figured that because Callisto was away, _she_ certainly couldn't be the one pranking them. They had thought it a one-time prank when they found itching powder in their clothes. Maybe a two-time prank when someone charmed their quills to write backwards. Even the third time they hadn't given it much thought-having their book covers be incredibly girly magazines and romance novels wasn't that bad of a prank…

But whoever was pranking them _kept doing it!_

The twins had absolutely _no_ idea who could possibly be brave enough to take on The Weasley twins, after all-they were now seventh years and Callisto had gone to attend that (wicked!) school with baby Ronniekins and his book-worm. Honestly, the twins were incredibly disappointed every time they thought of all of the mischief and chaos ickle Azalea could cause at her new school that they wouldn't be able to help with.

The Marauder's Map-which Callisto had given back to them as soon as she heard she was going to a different school-had given the twins no insights into who could possibly be pranking them. They had challenged the entirety of the Gryffindor Common Room not a few hours earlier but it had been made excruciatingly clear that none of them had any idea what was going on.

Not even the twins' closest friend-Lee Jordan-had any idea who was pranking them. The twins knew it wasn't Lee who was pranking them, as he had become far too focused with schoolwork since his mother had shouted her lungs out when he nearly failed the O.W.L.S two years ago. Lee wouldn't ruin his chances at employment by initiating a prank war with the twins, especially not in N.E.W.T. year.

Lee _did_ laughed his arse off when their hair turned Hufflepuff-yellow halfway through a truly passionate speech on joining forces with their invisible prankster, though.

…

"Hey Gred…" one of the twins whispered to his accomplice as they peered down at the map spread across the bed, "you sure these traps will help catch our prankster?"

"What prankster doesn't like candy?" the other retorted, "We very clearly left a bowl of sweets in the Common Room with an incredibly obvious label ' _To Our Dearest Pranking Rival, Love Fred and George'_ there isn't a change of them not seeing it."

"Yeah but do you really think they'd be oblivious enough to actually eat one of the candies?"

"The Fainting Fancies won't set off alarm bells with any detection spells, Forge. Whoever eats them will just go right to sleep."

"What if someone _else_ eats the candies?"

"..." the twin shot his other a slightly worried look, "I think we better-"

" _Misters Weasley!"_ the two heard a certain transfiguration professor shout from the common room, " _This has gone on long enough!_ Making poor students pass out is one thing, but turning them into animals almost permanently! Detention!"

"...Turning them into animals?" one of the twins questioned confused, looking at the door to the dorms warily. "Why didn't we think of that?" the other complained.

"Headmasters office, now!" Professor McGonagall shouted, furious.

(far away in the kitchens, a certain house-elf called Dobby cackled as he looked back down at the list of things to do the Great Mistress Callisto Potter had given him, he hadn't even gotten past the tenth thing on the list-and there were a total of a hundred things to do in her absence on there!)

…

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Jonathan Powell's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Professor Jonathan Powell eyed the new students-not Altair students, but _Hogwarts_ students that the Headmaster had let in for the "purpose of amusement." All of teachers had known immediately that that was definitely not the reason he had allowed it, though they _also_ knew that Aizaguirre would be telling absolutely no one why Ircoriel had pushed him to allow the Hogwarts students.

And yes, it was Ircoriel who allowed the Hogwarts students into Altair, not Aizaguirre. The Headmaster-no matter what incentives offered-had never before allowed outside students to step foot in Altair. The outsiders that did get in were either teachers, _very_ important visitors, or ended up so far dead that they, well, _weren't_ dead, but rather incredibly twisted necromantic… things.

Jonathan Powell took a little too much pride in being one of the few 'normal' teachers at Altair, teaching charms and transfigurations-subjects that were taught at _every_ school-and being, well, _human._ _Though,_ the teacher thought with a grimace, _humans don't usually take a full-blooded veela as a wife and adopt an incubus child._

Jonathan had known immediately why Deputy Headmistress Mercuriel had chosen him to help the Hogwarts students choose classes. Jonathan had grown up in a traditional British pureblood household (though, his mother and father had died in a potions accident when he was young and he was sent to live with an American uncle) until he was ten, where he moved to live with his uncle and attend Ilvermorny before leaving and attending Altair when he was sixteen.

Jonathan Powell was by far the most normal teacher (or even student) to attend Altair in a long time, easily integrating himself into the "outside" world after his graduation and having a human ex-wife and two human children… until he met his current wife, who was another teacher at Altair. Yeah. She had dragged him back into the world of crazy-and _hell yes,_ Jonathan would admit that.

Teacher meetings usually ended with more than one of the teachers being tortured by a pissed off more powerful teacher. Lectures and classes on _totally simple_ processes ended with students being injured or permanently stuck with unnatural features. Dinner ended in duels, breakfast started with displays of massive amounts of power.

Jonathan delighted in the atmosphere, adoring his wife and loving the chaos. Altair was an incredibly unique place, and he had no plans to ever leave the close-knit circle of strength. Jonathan loved the different people and species at Altair, loved the magics that would fly free between students and teachers, loved basking in the sheer power that would drip from the Central Tower on a day of celebration. Altair was in one word _incredible,_ and Jonathan always enjoyed the unique culture it held, even with its niche of sadists and insane.

And still, Jonathan was one of the mostly-normal teachers.

 _And by all that's good in the world,_ Jonathan bemoaned as he looked at the antsy Hogwarts students that were chittering nervously with one another and the overly amused Altair 'supervisors' who Jonathan was certain were having a mental conversation with dozens of others, _I wish I was one of the batshit-crazy teachers right now._

…

"Right." Professor Powell said mildly a few minutes after they entered the classroom, miraculously silencing the Hogwarts students. He turned lazy eyes towards the two vampires and human that had led them there, gesturing them out with a flick of his fingers.

"Some of the sprites will be here to take them to the dorms afterwards." the teacher murmured, "Mercuriel should choose mentors within a few hours."

The three Altair students left without a backward glance towards the Hogwarts students, drifting out the door with remarkable speed.

"I don't think they liked us very much." Hannah whispered into Susan's ear as Professor Powell counted them mentally.

"Is one of you missing?" the professor questioned after a few minutes.

"Callisto Potter." Hermione answered bossily, "Professor Mercuriel had something to talk to her about-"

"One, it's _Deputy_ Mercuriel." Powell interrupted with a raised eyebrow, "and two, I don't actually care where she is. Either she is here, or she is not. She is not."

"But, professor Powell, sir, she has to make a schedule-"

"It has no effect on me whether or not Potter ends up with a schedule at the end of the day."

Hermione blinked rapidly at the professor, none of her professors had completely ignored her, and they would _never_ leave a student without a schedule! This Altair place was truly backwards-dark arts, _wandless magic,_ non-human teachers!

She was about to speak up about it when Powell continued.

"As you know, you are required to take Culture and Customs, Medimagic, Basic Runes, Charms, Potions, Physical Combat and Theory of Magic. You will also be required to take three additional magic classes, though it is my _sincere_ recommendation that you take as many as you think you can manage. You can drop classes if you are failing-though if you disrupt the teaching regime the teachers are able to punish you at their discretion.

"If you are worried about being taught by someone who is not human-too bad. Markusson, who is teaching you Theory of Magic, is a water fae. Girard, who teaches medimagic is a veela, Calmenero, the runes teacher, is a vampire. Malowitz-potions-is a werewolf, and Warner, who will be teaching you physical defense, is an incubus. Don't expect the human teachers to be any easier on you than the non-human teachers, and don't expect the non-human teachers to put up with any rude comments. I am fairly certain that Warner was told off last year for tearing someone's tongue out after they insulted him."

" _What!?"_ was the general reaction from the Hogwarts students, though the five closest to Callisto only grimaced slightly. Of course they did. Powell didn't respond to their startled inquiry, rather continuing on blithely.

"You will be placed in a class level based on skill level. The teachers listed are the basics through second level teachers, and each have tests the first day of classes-which starts in two days on the fifth. The teachers can kick you out of their classes at will-either permanently or until the end of class is up to them. They can also punish you however they see fit. We don't have a grading system-if you are still in the class by the end of the school year, you passed. Some teachers have final exams. Some don't.

"Students also organize classes and clubs, and you can pay someone in favors, money or items to teach or tutor you in a subject. Vampires might help you for you blood, and incubi and veela occasionally trade for… _sexual_ favors. The dwarves tend to appreciate money and elves, fae and daemons tend to trade for favors and rare items."

He was silent for a moment in though, apparently ignoring the gaping expressions of the students in front of him.

"Don't come to a teacher for assistance outside of their subject unless they ask you to. They will torture you for being a waste of time. Don't be rude to the teachers. Avoid the older teachers as they tend to care a lot less about your survival and good health at the end of the day. Avoid the higher level and year students, they don't appreciate normal Altair first years and they _certainly_ don't appreciate _Hogwarts_ first years."

"That," Powell finished with a nod, "Is likely all of the help you will get from a teacher that relates to Altair life and outside subjects."

…

[First Year Altair Student Class List :: Altair Institute of Magic]

 **Required: (for Hogwarts students)**

 _Culture and Customs_ :: William Sottero - 7:50-9:50, Saturday morning

 _Theory of Magic_ :: Evandel Markusson - 10:00-12:00, Saturday morning

 _Medimagic_ :: Chloelle Girard - 3:00-5:30, Wednesday/Friday afternoon

 _Basic Runes_ :: Alejandro Calmenero - 12:00-3:00 Tuesday/Thursday afternoon

 _Charms_ :: Jonathan Powell - 9:00-11:00, Monday/Wednesday morning

 _Potions_ :: Ugil Malowitz - 9:00-11:00, Tuesday/Thursday morning

 _Physical Combat/Exercise_ :: Nicholas Warner - 1:00-3:00 Monday/Wednesday/Friday/Saturday/Sunday afternoon

 **Additional Classes (3 required unless otherwise specified):**

 _Blood Magic Basics ::_ Nuala Sikkel

 _Illusion Magic Basics ::_ Aeldyn Solaris

 _Shamanic Magic Basics ::_ Hadriel Quiell

 _Metal Magic Basics ::_ Rúthel Kriegshammer

 _Alchemy Basics ::_ Sa'ael

 _Necromancy Introduction ::_ Nuala Sikkel

 _Battle Magic ::_ Oieyo

 _Stealth Magic ::_ Lilliane Stevens

 _Sexual Magic ::_ Dieena Campeau and Tristan Corelia

 _Shadow Magic ::_ Krioriel Altuan

 _Wandless Magic ::_ Hadriel Quiell

 _Nature Magic ::_ Malthus Riveras

 _Defensive Magic ::_ Lilliane Stevens

 _Muse Magic ::_ Lucciola and Maren

 _Transfiguration ::_ Jonathan Powell

 _Astronomy ::_ Sa'ael

 _Elemental (with specification) :: **not offered unless you are an elemental (See Alish Mercuriel)_

 _Mental Magic :: Self-taught, student tutors offered if needed_

 **Non-magical Classes (taught by other students):**

 _Visual Art, Woodworking, Metalworking, Music (_ includes various different instruments/types), _Sports_ (student-led teams from various sports), _Language_ (with specification) _::_ French, Spanish, German, Russian, Italian, Latin, Greek, various others

…

 **AHGHH!**

Sorry for not updating last week, and also not updating on Monday this week but I totally… don't… have an excuse. This chapter wouldn't come together in my head and then all I had written was less than 1,000 words and there isn't a _chance_ of me uploading _that._ Here are some questions I have that I'd be grateful for your input on.

What classes do you think the Hogwarts students should take? What other classes/clubs should be added?

Obviously I already have some of their classes planned out but I'm open to input and ideas. Again, sorry for not updating last week and I will actually respond to reviews this week so-

Ta~!

Insubstancial

edit: the schedule clashed so I had to fix it.. (thanks, Katzztar)


	18. Chapter 18

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _.."Don't come to a teacher for assistance outside of their subject unless they ask you to. They will torture you for being a waste of time. Don't be rude to the teachers. Avoid the older teachers as they tend to care a lot less about your survival and good health at the end of the day. Avoid the higher level and year students, they don't appreciate normal Altair first years and they certainly don't appreciate Hogwarts first years."_

" _That," Powell finished with a nod, "Is likely all of the help you will get from a teacher that relates to Altair life and outside subjects."..._

…

 _Word Count :: 1,805_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Jonathan Powell's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"What!?" came the general reaction from the Hogwarts students as the professor finished his rather dark and violent description of Altair. Hermione's hand shot straight into the air, followed almost hesitantly by some others.

The professor, instead of calling on Hermione, merely raised an eyebrow in expectation. When after a few moments she didn't speak up he sighed and let out an expectant "Yes?"

"Are teachers truly allowed to torture their students? That's barbaric! And students won't help you unless you give them something!? There aren't even any tests? How are we going to prepare for the O.W.L.S this year? I can't believe they are allowing creatures to teach classes! This school is barbar-"

Professor Powell had silenced her with a cold flick of his wand, stalking towards her with narrowed eyes.

"My _wife_ is one of those 'creatures' you mentioned," he snarled, "as is my son. The only reason _I_ haven't tortured you is that Mercuriel got me to swear an oath not to punish any of you before the _first fucking day._ "

Though in his words the Professor made it clear that he wasn't going to hurt her (yet) his wand was pressing sharply against her throat. Susan had the odd feeling that just because he was the charms and transfiguration teacher, didn't mean that he didn't know a whole slew of dark and incredibly violent curses. _If anything,_ she thought with a wince, _he probably knows more because no one would expect him to._

Susan watched the furious professor in silence as he hissed increasingly violent threats towards Hermione. She _also_ had the feeling that he was exaggerating slightly, though that didn't make his threats any less real. Not for the first time in the single hour they had been separated from Callisto did she wish to Merlin that Callisto was there to diffuse the situation. Callisto had the remarkable ability to calm down someone furious with nothing but a smile and a cheeky comment, though it had never worked the few times anyone else tried.

"Sir-" Susan spoke up instead, flinching slightly when Professor Powell's furious glare turned to her immediately. "You mentioned electives?" Susan continued warily, hoping that it would be enough to redirect his anger and annoyance "What electives are there?"

"Electives…" Powell pronounced the word carefully, his angry glare turning into an appraising one as he studied Susan. He knew from the commentary that had run unceasingly during their two day 'trial' and again earlier that morning from both students and bored teachers that she was one of the Potter girl's friends-and wasn't that weird to think.

The teachers (and likely the students as well) all knew that _Callisto Potter_ was one of the reasons Ircoriel had pushed Aizaguirre to let the Hogwarts students come to Altair. As a consequence, Potter and her friends had become the focus of a lot of positive and negative attention from the entirety of the Altair population. They would be pushed twice as much by the teachers-until they reached their breaking point, really-and given every opportunity to be great. Not to mention likely being inducted into the Altair students and 'corrupted' into becoming some of the first ever Hogwarts transfer students in Altair.

"There are various electives offered." Powell eventually continued, breaking out of his thoughts. "Blood, Illusion, Shamanic, Nature, Muse and Stealth Magic.. Alchemy and Astronomy-Here's a list of the classes-" he flicked the wand that he had only lowered slightly to distribute a stack of papers to the 11 students.

"As I said before you are required to take three of the electives, though you can take as many of them as you think you can manage unless they overlap. One thing I should mention is that you won't be able to take both Blood and Shadow Magic as they are both at the same time."

"Why?" Blaise spoke up, "I mean, the classes are slightly complementary for the darker side of magic, so why are they at the same time, sir?"

"Nuala Sikkel and Krioriel Altuan, the Blood and Shadow Magics teachers respectively, have a long family history of feuding. Sikkel has tried to kill Altuan more times than I can remember, and the Headmaster set their class times at the same time after the majority of students that attended both classes ended up used as pawns in their utterly petty feud." Powell said humorlessly. He had finally relaxed from the offensive comment Hermione had made earlier and was leaning lazily against his desk, apparently happy to answer questions.

"What's muse magic?" Hannah asked after a moment.

"Muse Magic is magic created through sound, mainly emotion-affecting music through different instruments and song and also vaguely creational music if you're advanced enough." Powell responded, sounding slightly as if he was quoting from something.

"What methods do you use for that?"

Powell raised an eyebrow, "If you want to join, then join. You only have one week after the start of classes to drop it without repercussion, though, and that truly only means one or maybe two classes."

The Hogwarts students were all silent as they looked through the class list, muttering softly to one another. Some of them-Ron and Hermione-had only grown more apprehensive after seeing all of the dark and dangerous magic subjects on the list, while others-namely everyone else-had grown excited with every new opportunity to learn things they would enjoy.

Luna was bouncing up and down in her seat, and Hannah and Susan didn't look far behind. Though still slightly disturbed by some of the things said, Terry and Justin both looked just as excited as their female companions.

"Mister Powell, what's Nature Magic?" Luna asked energetically, beaming at the teacher, apparently ignoring (or perhaps just ignorant) of the slightly apathetic behavior he had portrayed.

"Nature Magic is… the closes the fae magic you will be able to get. Some of it is slightly similar to Herbology, if you've had that, but it focuses on the magical properties in nature of some sort, as well as the ways magic can affect natural ecosystems and even individual organisms… in some way. It is a dangerous class because of how closely you work with far more raw magic that you wouldn't touch in any class other than Blood Magic, Necromancy or perhaps Alchemy." Powell at least seemed more excited about this class than he had about Muse Magic, apparently knowing much more about it.

"It's complementary to Shamanic Magic," he continued after a moment, "Which is ritual and renewal magic alongside utilising natural elements to do..things." Or maybe he didn't know that much more about it.

"But witches can't access raw magic!" Hermione blurted, apparently too annoyed to remember the reaction Powell had earlier and preferring to dig herself into more of a hole where it came to the appreciation of teachers. (As in, she had none of it, and was now getting negative-depreciation?-appreciation from them)

"What would you call accidental magic?" Powell retorted, "Accidental magic is just the release of the pent up raw magic collected inside of your body, directed for a purpose. Using wands negates the amount of access that inherent raw magic has to… you could say serving you, which gives that raw magic a different purpose. It's why wizards have a tendency to live much longer."

"That's not what _I_ have ever heard before!" Hermione retorted primly, "Raw magic is just in the environmen-"

"You can discuss this with your _Theory of Magic_ teacher if you do not want to listen to people with far more experience than you." Powell snapped.

"That's a week from now!"

"Then get one of the students annoyed enough to yell at you about it!" Powell's tone had turned incredibly daring as he glared at the bookworm. "Choose your classes. You have… 30 minutes to pick them and collaborate with your little friends before I'm calling someone to take you to the dorms for the rest of the day."

…

"I don't _want_ to take Muse Magic!" Susan hissed to Hannah and Luna, scowling.

"But you have the second best voice out of any of us! Even Azzie said so!" Hannah protested meekly, "Besides, I'm taking Nature Magic with you!"

"You're taking Nature Magic because you love nature, and because you want to impress Neville when we get back."

"That's not the point!"

"Fine! I'll join!"

…

"We are _not_ taking any of those _dark_ classes!" Hermione griped to Ron, scowling down at the list of classes. She had already circled Defensive Magic, Astronomy and Transfiguration on her and Ron's list, as they seemed like _normal_ and proper classes.

"Why not take Battle Magic? That's probably just offensive magic!" Ron suggested, always up for learning how to fight things (hey, it was a Gryffindor-brave thing to do).

"Hmm…"

…

"Finally!" Draco whispered. Blaise couldn't help but think Draco looked a little like he should be rubbing his hands together whilst cackling maniacally at the expression on his face (rather similar to how Lady Zabini would act when it was nearing the end of one of her marriages) and was slightly disappointed when Draco only grinned excitedly. "With Father gone, Mother has been refusing to continue teaching me the truly _fun_ magic that Father used to teach, though Father never learner proper Blood Magic or Necromancy so he couldn't teach me those."

"I suppose we will take those classes together, then." Blaise muttered, stifling a groan. _His_ mother had been teaching him about the 'truly fun' magics ever since his thirteenth birthday, though he was more looking forward to the opportunity to finally learn Illusion and Shamanic magic, subjects which his… 5th(?) step-father had showed him. Number 5 had been one of his favorites….

"I think Nature and Muse magic would be the most interesting, personally." Daphne interjected.

" _Please,_ " Michael spat, "Those two classes are for cowards and are useless anyways."

"Far more interesting than what _you_ have down." Daphne retorted, "What, defensive and battle magic and transfiguration?"

Bless his mother that Blaise had never had to deal with other children until Hogwarts. They would have been _unbearable!_

…

Justin raised an eyebrow as he looked down at Terry's list.

"Blood Magic? Battle Magic? Aren't those considered-"

"After all of the rants Callisto has gone on," Terry interrupted, "do you _truly_ still believe in light and dark magic? Blood Magic sounded intriguing and have you _read_ any comics before? Battle Magic is kind-of mentioned all of the time, with _lots_ of fun connotations!"

"You're basing your classes off of comics?" Justin deadpanned staring at his friend blankly.

"Why are you taking Nature Magic?" Terry retorted, "I can understand Shamanic and defensive magic and transfiguration 'cause I'm taking them too, but Nature magic?"

"...It sounded interesting?"

…

 **WOWW~!** An upload on a Monday? It's almost like she remembered to write it! Ha… ha… yeah. Only two more days of school! Hurrah!

Also, I never knew "whinge" is actually how you spelled it, and always thought it was "whine," but _whinge_ is complaining about something in a persistent way and _whine_ is a high-pitched cry. *mind blown* (a bunch of you probably already knew this but it was important to me!)

Callisto will show up next week… and I will gleefully wait until summer break to write proper, 2000+ word chapters that have better everything if I can manage it!

Ta~!

Insubstancial


	19. Chapter 19

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count:: 2,630_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Deputy Headmistress Office, Altair Institute of Magic]_

The Headmaster and his Deputy's argument had continued for only a few minutes more, with Callisto sending a slightly desperate glance towards the door with a grimace. The only problem she really had with the situation is that the headmaster's presence was setting 'her' magic off and giving Callisto the impression that it was shouting obscenities at her for not moving as it burned almost painfully under her skin. Callisto didn't really know _what_ exactly was making her magic react because she had the distinct feeling it wasn't exactly fear that was causing the reaction, more like a mixture of wariness and...recognition?

 _No, that couldn't be right…._ Callisto thought with an internal frown as she continued to silently watch their rather odd argument (she was fairly certain it had started as an argument about history classes, but by now some of the language they were using-it sounded vaguely like the terminology she had overheard Remus and Sirius using when they discussed both the idle Black positions as well as the far more advanced magics they had learned after Hogwarts, though the language the Headmaster and Headmistress used were far more advanced) but back to 'her' magic.

Callisto grimaced slightly as she mentally poked her magic to figure out what exactly it thought the problem with Headmaster Aizaguirre was (and consequently to ask if _please, would you stop being so antsy it's making it hard to think_ ) and was rather confused at it's very hesitant response that seemed a little like it thought the headmaster would recognize something. Callisto brushed off 'her' magic as being too nervous, it had made mistakes in who to trust before, after all Dumbledore hadn't done anything aggressive towards her and her magic was always antsy around _him,_ though more out of disgust and hatred than fear of recognition.

"Miss Potter." the deputy headmistress finally addressed her, apparently deciding that because Callisto hadn't been a bother for the time she had spent purposefully ignoring her to discuss with the Headmaster that Deputy Mercuriel would address her properly again. "Or is it Potter-Black? Whichever, I believe you were explaining your ignorance towards serpent magic and other subjects?"

"Ehm…" Callisto hesitated slightly, thrown both by being addressed and by having the Deputy ask after her proper surname, "It's Potter-Black, though just Potter is fine, and I kind of knew about serpent magic beforehand?"

"Kind of?" the headmistress asked in a slightly disdainful tone as the headmaster conjured a seat next to her lazily.

"Yes'm, I mean in my second year after… err… after a basilisk was set on the students I had to use parseltongue to find it's chamber and all that but I think that was more using a parseltongue password than anything, I just said 'open' a few times." Callisto explained carefully.

Both of the Altair administrators were utterly silent for a long moment before the ancient vampire raised an eyebrow, "I was unaware there was a basilisk, much less a chamber for one, in place in the school in the century surrounding it's establish, much less one that would be used to harm the students."

"That" Mercuriel interrupted before Callisto had the chance to explain, "is not an example of serpent magic. While I'm sure Riveren" she tilted her head to indicate that she meant the headmaster, "knows quite a bit more than I do about serpent magic, I only know the generalities of it. You'll be put into the lessons with Silaes and the other Naga as an additional required class.

"The main reason I asked you to stay behind is because of various things the teachers noticed in regards to your magic that will limit the classes you can take."

"What do you mean?" Callisto asked with a frown.

"Nuala and Caracalla-the beginning and advanced blood magic teachers-noticed that there was an odd residual strain present in your magic that would prevent you from doing blood magic, and so also necromancy as it is required to take both classes as they compliment each other. There hasn't ever been a strain this affecting towards specific magical types present in ones magic ever properly documented."

"Oh." Callisto says before blinking, "That's probably from the blood wards Dumbledore had around the house I lived in. I've never had trouble with the family blood magic my godfather's been teaching me, though?"

Rather than simply accepting this, Aizaguirre's eyes narrowed in thought and curiosity, and Callisto was slightly wary as he took over the conversation easily.

"'Family blood magic'" he drawled, "as you put it, at least, is generally considered Heritage Magic. It is a combination of the use of inherited traits and personal family spells with blood tracers and whatnot. It _hardly_ counts as proper blood magic."

Mercuriel seemed perfectly satisfied to yield to Aizaguirre's knowledge, unnecessarily waving her hand to direct him to continue. The vampire scrutinized Callito- _and my magic_ the sole human thought with a grimace as her magic twisted irritably beneath her skin-without much regard for either the human or the fae in the room.

"Blood wards," the headmaster continued after hardly a pause, "should never have reacted like this. If… _Dumbledore…._ " and the name was said with disdain and unspoken insult, "put them up, however, I can see him completely ruining it. The residues seem more like a misshapen blood ritual that was just strong enough to rob someone of the ability to perform further rituals.

"The only reason they would affect you poorly after being under blood wards would be if they had been mixed blood-heritage wards and the heritage connection they were using was dreadful." Aizaguirre finished, leaning back with apparent disinterest, a crystal glass full of _was that blood?_ as he reclined lazily.

Callisto grimaced as soon as he finished-partially because of the fact that he was drinking blood (and she had immediately known he was a vampire, but that didn't make it any less disconcerting to see someone _drinking blood_ ) and partially because if they _were_ 'blood-heritage wards' then the relationship she had with that 'heritage' would have done absolutely nothing to protect her. Add that to the weird necromantic ritual her magic had stopped halfway through and the revelation that blood magic and necromancy were tied subjects… yeah she could understand why she wouldn't be using blood magic any time soon.

"In essence you have a limited list of classes you can take, though I'm certain you already know much of what you want to choose."

"Yeah…" Callisto blinks out of her shock, "I thought-Professor Powell?-that Powell was going to help us choose classes?"

"There are going to be what I expect are many differences in your schedule compared to the others. That, and Silaes wants to speak to you today to make sure you would be compatible with the magic he wants to teach you." Mercuriel waits for Callisto's accepting nod before continuing, "Classes?"

"Illusion magic," Callisto says immediately, "Transfiguration and Defense, of course, and Nature, Stealth and Battle?"

While Mercuriel raised an eyebrow at how immediately certain Callisto sounded, she didn't mention it as Callisto smiled rather embarrassedly, "My guardians helped figure it out with me almost immediately after we found out about the opportunity. I would've gone with blood magic too, but…" Here she shrugged, rather unconcerned. To be honest the thought of blood magic wasn't something she really wanted to do, though it had immensely upset Sirius which was good enough reason to say she would take the class.

"Put her in the intermediate illusion magic classes." Aizaguirre suggested from his spot, "She won't need the introductory and beginning classes at all, and Aeldyn would most certainly want her out of that."

"Students always _start_ in beginning classes, Riveren." Mercuriel sighed. Although she knew that the vampire knew the rules inside and out, having been here centuries longer than she had, he had a tendency to ignore them and do as he wanted.

"That rule only got added after three classes tried skipping the beginning classes because they weren't fond of the teacher's punishment methods and tried to skip out on it. Miss Potter-Black will do just fine in the intermediate class."

Aizaguirre stood languidly, apparently preparing to leave as he moved towards the door. "Miss Potter-Black," he said as he paused a few feet from the exit, "We accept only the best from our students, and if I hear even a rumour that any of the students of Hogwarts have been neglecting the generous studies we have offered them, I will not hesitate to make it absolutely clear just how prestigious this school is and how excellent we are at… _weeding out_ unwanted students. As you seem to have the most influence among your _charming_ peers, I suggest you help ensure their continued placement here at Altair."

"Oh." was all Callisto could say as he swept out of the room. She was eerily reminiscent of the now deceased Snape as the cloak (that Callisto could swear looked more like a cape) fluttered behind him regally.

As soon as he left the room, someone else joined them, sliding leisurely across the soft wood floor. _Silaes,_ Callisto figured as she observed the new arrival. Like Syrul had-or _hadn't,_ she supposed-Silaes was shirtless, though he wore at least a dozen necklaces covered in beads and feathers and gemstones that spread lazily across his chest. His hair was a golden shade of bronze, highlighted with peculiarly metallic strands of bronze. His brown eyes were a warm and relaxed brown as he smiled welcomingly at the young human.

His tail was much longer than Syrul's had been-due to age, most likely-with a reddish-tint and rings of black across the back. It reminded Callisto of a Brazilian rainbow boa she had seen at the zoo the one time the Dursley's had taken her. The interlocking scales shimmered oddly in the light of the hovering crystals, mimicry of rainbows reflecting against the smoothest scales.

"Sssyrul tellsss me that one of the sstudentss was a Parssselmouth?" he murmurs, his voice filling the room as easily as the Headmaster or Headmistress' had. "I asssume you are ssshe?"

" _§§… Yesss…"_ Callisto answered carefully, fully aware she likely wouldn't be speaking English.

Silaes laughed, a slightly raspy sound that was warmer than Callisto would have thought as he turned to the weather fae.

"May I sssteal your sstudent, Alissh? I will ensssure ssshe findss her way to the dormsss." Silaes queried, turning to leave as soon as he saw the deputy's nod. As he moved back towards the door Callisto was able to see his back, and the scales that bordered his spine all the way from the top of his neck to his tail. They hadn't been nearly as present on Syrul, and Callisto just knew she would have to ask.

"I'll inform Jonathan of your class selection," Mercuriel says as they left, the door closing behind them as Callisto trailed after Silaes.

" _§§… Little sspeaker…"_ He began in the oddly smooth and comforting tones of parseltongue, " _§§… It hasss been far too long sssince I wass able to teach a ssspeaker. There has been far too much connotationss of evil with ssspeakers…"_ here, Silaes scoffed as if the very idea of it was ridiculous. Callisto followed Silaes as he slid through the halls back towards the Atrium. The few students they came across would only nod respectfully towards Silaes in recognition before continuing on with their business.

Oddly enough (and honestly thankfully) the few that recognized Callisto only eyed her with contemplative curiosity before ignoring her. The few eyes that lingered seemed educatively curious, if that made any sense. That, and far too cunning and mischievous… more reminiscent of a thief than of the twins, though. It just made Callisto pull the bag she had hidden her shrunken trunk and other things in closer to her as she hurried after the Naga.

" _§§… While the Eldersss will likely want to meet with you eventually, little ssspeaker, it will be after you begin training in our magicsss…"_ Silaes continued as he moved towards the side of the Atrium, where there was a smooth pile of stones that were liberally taken by various naga and other scaled beings that Callisto didn't recognize. They were in one of the spots most directly covered by the sun, and Callisto vividly remembered her own habit of finding the sunniest spot and just laying there for hours on end without doing anything.

Hermione had thrown a fit after finding Callisto sprawled semi-conscious in a secluded area next to the lake on one of the rare days with just a little bit of sunshine. She had yelled for too long about laziness and the fact that Callisto hadn't yet finished any of her essays (never mind that she _had_ ) and who did she think she was not doing anything on such a nice day. Seeing all of the naga spread leisurely across the rocks now, though, made Callisto think it was probably from the influence of these 'serpent magics'.

" _§§… Ssserpent magicss, you mean? And who are the Elderss?"_ Callisto asked when Silaes didn't bother to continue as they approached the rocks, some of the younger naga students moving to leave a spot in one of the brighter areas on the pile. There was no response as Silaes climbed into the spot, indicating for Callisto to follow.

" _§§… What do you know about usss?"_ Silaes finally asked as he curled up, leaning his arms and torso leisurely on one of his coils, looking like the epitome of relaxed as some of the other naga took notice of the fact that he was _speaking to a human in parseltongue_.

" _§§… Of naga…?"_ Callisto asked, queuing startled gasps from many of the naga around them as they stared at her in unmitigated surpise, " _§§…Nothing, really. I mean all of the ssstories I read that my…"_ she paused with the realization that there wasn't a word for 'godfather,' and she didn't know whether or not Sirius would be alright with the title of 'father'. " _§§…that Sssirius gave me were very… wrong? Ssssome ssaid you were monssters, sssome sssaid healerss, otherss said you were plant-eaterss, which made little sssense…"_

The last received the odd hissing laughs that were token to Naga from many of the surrounding beings. Callisto noticed that the only one of them that didn't look surprised was Syrul, and that he looked rather amused at the reactions of his others.

" _§§… We refer to ourssselvess as Ssserpentss, or the Ssserpent Folk mosst often, though it is only ussed by Ssserpentss and Sspeakers."_ Silaes corrected, ignoring the soft chatter of the students around him. " _§§…Many of uss are able to heal, we are firsst warriorsss and hunterss, Our perssonal magic isss conssidered an extenssion of nature magic, clossse to the persssonal magic of the fae. It isss true that much of the magic ssspeakers are able to accesss is healing magic, though."_

Silaes' eyes trailed over the naga students contemplatively, " _§§… Sssyrul and Sssyenn would be the bessst mentorss for you. It would alssso be good for you to find a sserpent companion."_

Not for the first time, Callisto wondered just what she had gotten herself into. She didn't mind learning serpent magic, she didn't mind having naga as mentors, she didn't mind any of the people at Altair, she didn't even mind knowing that there were bloodthirsty vampires and too-curious other non-humans out for her blood or magic or whatever they wanted. She didn't even mind that Silaes just suggested she adopt a pet snake! Just… the other British students were _so_ in too deep.

She might be too, honestly.

Ah, well at least it would be fun.

...

 **Right, oh!** This was fun to write… ish. Ch. 20 should be mostly just snippets from the two days the students have before classes start and THEN WE START CLASSES! Yay! It only took you 20 chapters, Insubstantial! Good for you!

I hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful summer so far (unless you haven't gotten out of school yet, then… do well on finals?) and have fun plans for break.

Do any of you want to see a particular scene next chapter (in Altair, in Hogwarts, in wherever it doesn't have to be anything I've mentioned so far honestly.) like Fred & George pranks or Sirius & Remus mother-henning I'll try to add it in.

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A LOVELY WEEK!

~Insubstantial


	20. Chapter 20

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

… _..Not for the first time, Callisto wondered just what she had gotten herself into. She didn't mind learning serpent magic, she didn't mind having naga as mentors, she didn't mind any of the people at Altair, she didn't even mind knowing that there were bloodthirsty vampires and too-curious other non-humans out for her blood or magic or whatever they wanted. She didn't even mind that Silaes just suggested she adopt a pet snake! Just… the other British students were so in too deep._

 _She might be too, honestly._

 _Ah, well at least it would be fun…..._

 _..._

 _Word Count:: 3,277_

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Dormitories, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"So…" Susan started in a mild tone as she sat comfortably on Callisto's bed later that evening, all four of the girls snuggling comfortably in the extra-warm blankets and quilts Callisto had found in her trunk (she was sure it hadn't been her to pack them) and exchanging gossip like they frequently did over summer "you have a _serpent magic_ class? What even _is_ that?" Susan sounded fascinated, rather than disgusted, and Callisto took it as a good sign.

"Silaes explained it as a version of nature magic-sort-of like how there's fae magic or whatever for fae." Callisto said cheerfully, she had ended up falling asleep and taking an incredibly relaxing nap with the naga (she'd woken up totally embarrassed and being laughed at by a few of the still-awake Naga. Syrul had eventually shown her the way to the dorms, introducing Syenn, who was Callisto's other Naga mentor, as his bonded mate ("Which," Syrul had explained, "is basically the term most beings used to describe their wives and husbands but is more permanent, if you will, you wouldn't get 'divorced' from them.").

Syrul had also somehow figured out that her general mentor, who had ended up being the mentor for all three Gryffindor students, was the vampire Sei Verrick. Slytherin had gotten Olivier Volren, Ravenclaw had Lorcan I'vores and Hufflepuff had gotten Marcus Lorenzo.

"I didn't even know you could do magic with parseltongue!" Susan squealed, receiving agreements from the three others.

"It's not… dangerous, right?" Hannah said warily, though she winced at the look Callisto sent her, "I mean… is it safe for you to use, not being a Naga?"

"Relatively…" Callisto said, pasting a worried expression on her face until she saw the horror written in Susan and Hannah's expressions (Luna was curiously entertained, as always). She grinned as she laughed loudly, "It's mostly safe, Hannah. It's why I have two additional Naga mentors-Syrul and Syenn-and have been forbidden from using any serpent magic outside of the classes without _both_ of their supervision."

"Which classes do we share?" Susan asked after a few minutes.

"Defensive and Nature magic." Luna said dreamily in her usual habit of knowing pretty much everything without ever saying anything.

"And all of the required classes," Callisto added cheerfully, "I don't think it really matters-in none of our classes are we _alone,_ so we can help eachother out anyways. Just-just remember to always try your best. When I was with Deputy Mercuriel, the Headmaster showed up and er… threatened me and consequently _all_ of us from Hogwarts. I think he said we would be 'punished' or at least removed from Altair if we were 'neglecting the generous studies they have offered us"

"What! They can't just _do_ that!" Hannah complained, "That's cruel and _wrong_ and just-!"

"I think-" Susan paused as Hannah frowned at her, "I think that they kind of have alright reasoning. Altair _is_ considered the most prestigious school worldwide-Auntie Amelia told me-and _every single one_ of their students has gone on to do something great. The fact that we're being allowed to study here even for just a year is kind of… crazy."

"Crazy indeed." Callisto murmured a few hours later, long after her three friends had returned to their rooms to sleep, staring up at her ceiling in thought. "Crazy… indeed."

…

 _[September 3, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"I can't believe Mercuriel is making _us_ be mentors to the Hogwarts brats." Sei complained, scowling towards Reid as he laughed. "Fuck off, Strelem." Sei said nastily, baring his fangs at the other vampire, to the general amusement of the others with them. Though most of them hadn't _really_ spoken to each other, they were bonding over being forced to be mentors to the Hogwarts students.

"To be fair," Lirienne Jordan, Marcus' partner and a werewolf, said with a smile, "It's your own fault for being approachable and helping them find their way. I'm sure Reid would be a mentor if he wasn't… well if he wasn't _Reid,_ and known for killing people who offend him."

"Sweetheart," Reid drawled, just to see Marcus scowl, "I have an _incredibly..._ humanitarian personality, dear."

"Only if _humanitarian_ means you like eating humans." Marcus snarled over the laughter of their companions.

"I'm fairly certain they won't be _awful_ to mentor," Lorcan drawled, the daemon sitting the furthest away from Olivier he could possibly manage on the _round_ table they had taken.

"You're not the one stuck with the Malfoy brat." Olivier hissed, ever the one to antagonise a daemon.

"I don't know why you're complaining," Marcus said lazily, "I don't see much wrong with my students."

"That's because they went out of their way not to be offensive." Reagan sounded amused at her brother, or perhaps it was at Olivier and Lorcan, who were spending the time both hexing and insulting each other. Honestly, they could complain all they wanted about who they had to mentor, but Reagan _had_ been watching and was fairly certain Sei had gotten the worst deal out of it, and he already had a lot of work through his class choice. Reagan supposed that the only reason _he_ wasn't complaining was that he could give a lot of the job and responsibility either to Reid or one of the other vampires that were weaker than him (Sei and Reid both had a tendency to cackle and call them their minions).

Instead of saying this, though, Reagan turned to the two Naga who were practically curled around each other, a heating charm bubbled around them in the cool afternoon. "Why aren't you complaining?" Reagan sounded curious, "You were _both_ put as mentors for that Potter girl."

"It'sss an honor to be able to mentor a ssspeaker," Syenn explained for her mate, "They're rare enough as it isss, being chosssen to mentor them by Sssilaes is an honor."

"Even though it's the _Girl-Who-Lived,_ Britain's best and only great playing card?"

Both Naga shrugged slightly, Syrul gesturing for his mate to explain, "Azzssalea, ass sshe sseems to prefer, iss a little sssweetheart." Syenn sounded delighted as she continued, "Though a little naïve, ssshe iss polite and jussst _adorable!"_

…

 _[September 4, 1994 :: Number 12, Grimmauld Place]_

" _Moony,"_ Sirius whispered as he snuck into Remus' room in the _very early_ morning.

" _What,_ Sirius?" came the half-asleep snarl, "What time is it?"

"Uh… three? m'not sure." Sirius climbed onto the foot of Remus' bed as he awoke with a tired growl. "I'm worried about Azzie, Moony."

"So'm I, Padfoot…" Remus muttered, "She'll send us a letter soon, then we can send her back lots of-"

"She doesn't have an owl!" Sirius wailed, "Remember? The Altair people made sure all pets stayed at home because only _Altair_ students and teachers were allowed to have pets! What if she never-what if she's in trouble and she can't send us a letter!"

Remus, while looking a little startled as he remembered that yes, the 'Altair people' had suggested not bringing pets as they could have 'difficulties acclimating to the climate and behavior of others at Altair' and Remus had been uncertain whether they were referring to the students or the pets. He didn't think it mattered.

"I'm sure they have school owls she could use." Remus says after a moment, hiding his own worry with faux confidence. "But… we'll send her a package with lots of things in a few days anyways, just so she can get settled in."

"What if she needs things before that!?"

"We went over this yesterday" Remus groaned, though he looked like he agreed "and the Tonks had to shut us up when they showed up for dinner-remember what Andromeda said? We have to let her try to do things on her own."

"Right.." Sirius nodded… seriously, "Right, yeah we have to let her adjust on her own."

The two were silent, Remus trying to go back to sleep as Sirius fidgeted uncomfortably.

"But what if-"

"GET OUT!"

…

[September 4, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]

"Soon enough," Strelem started cheerfully, "you should be able to figure out how to get from place to place, so we won't have to show you around everywhere. For now; breakfast, and then all of those mentors of yours will help you figure out whether you made good or bad class decisions."

"More than that," Marcus Lorenzo continued as he quickly transfigured two of the typically round tables that littered the Atrium into one long table, indicating for them to sit in groups with their mentors, with the Ravenclaw group at the furthest end, then Hufflepuff, Gryffindor and _then_ Slytherin. Lorenzo really didn't want to have the fae and daemon mentors get into another fight.

Callisto ended up next to the Gryffindor's vampire mentor, across from Ron and Hermione who were eyeing Verrick rather warily, though Ron looked far more disgusted and Hermione afraid. Luna had sat herself next to Volren, the Ravenclaw mentor, and was chattering excited at him. The three Slytherin students sitting next to Volren looked rather uncomfortable, though their discomfort was caused more by disgust for the fae (Blaise and Daphne _did_ look just a little more contemplative than they had). All of the Hufflepuff students looked content with their human mentor, though Justin looked a little more uncomfortable with his spot next to Reid Strelem, the vampire who had attached himself to their group for no reason other than for personal amusement.

…

Sei Verrick was having the time of his undead life tormenting the two humans across from him. _It would be better,_ he bemoaned mentally, _if little miss Potter was also as terrified of me. Maybe I should fix that._

"Do they actually just freely serve you blood in fancy goblets every meal?" Potter asked, staring at the goblet in Sei's hand with slightly horrified fascination. Apparently she wasn't prepared for _everything._

" 'Course." Sei said cheerfully, "Altair does it's best to accomodate for their students. Besides, Heamaster Aizaguirre is a vampire, as are some of the oldest professors on staff, so blood is rather easy to acquire." here, Sei frowned a bit sadly, "Unfortunately, they only serve us animal blood, so we have to get our fix of good human blood from tasty little humans, usually other students."

Sei was leering rather obviously at Potter, expecting her to recoil in fear or at least flinch not _laugh loudly_ like she did and grin back at him. Sei was slightly appeased by the fear in the expressions of his _other_ two charges or the way the girl-Granger-stammered and exclaimed something about how immoral that was or something.

"Who cooks the food?" Callisto asked curiously as she stabbed one of the very fluffy chocolate pancakes that had shown up soon after they sat down, "This is really tasty."

"Brownies."

"What…?" Callisto stared in confusion, Remus _had_ covered the Brownies-a subservient subspecies of elves and fae that weren't _called_ elves or fae that would cook and clean for others in return for a place to live and employment. Very beneficial, honestly.

"House elves." Sei explained, "We have a positive _horde_ of them."

"How awful!" Hermione exclaimed, "How could a place so insistent on equality of creatures be so cruel to house elves!?" her nose had wrinkled on 'equality of creatures,' apparently disagreeing. Callisto didn't know how Hermione could dislike the thought of equality and equal power for the majority of beings while wanting to give power to a species that didn't even want it.

"Neither should get freedom." Ron muttered, apparently forgetting he was sitting with a non-humans who could _certainly_ hear everything he had just said.

"A few things," Sei started, his voice much cooler than it had been before. "One, we are _beings,_ two, brownies don't _want_ freedom, and three _we already have freedom,_ you twat."

…

"For some," Olivier Volren drawled lazily from one end of the table "many daemons have the tendency to marry close relatives-the effects of inbreeding are evident in their stupidity."

"The only species that inbreed are the fae, _citarum_." Lorcan I'vores responded from the other side, "And _that's_ evident in how ugly you are."

"Who would marry their cousins?" Draco sounded appalled, though only the Slytherins and Gryffindors heard him (and really, why were they put together?).

"Draco," Callisto said almost gently, leaning over the table slightly, "If you were anymore inbred you'd be a sandwich." She paused when the vampire next to here nearly choked on his drink (not that he even needed to breathe, but it still hurt). "Also, citarum?"

"It's a river you humans polluted in Indonesia," Sei explained lightly, "it's incredibly nasty."

Volren snarled, sharp teeth bared across the table. Callisto supposed he _would_ be a little touchy about that, being a water fae. It also explained the fact that the magic around the water fae was now practically acidic, close to burning the Slytherins next to him. Marcus sighed, _this_ was why he had _separated_ the daemon and fae.

…

[September 4, 1994 :: Minister's Office, British Ministry of Magic]

"Albus Dumbledore!" the weedy voice of Britain's Minister for Magic cried, "Albus, Albus! I can just tell how well our wonderful plan will go. Certainly, the creatures will be indebted because of our generosity in allowing the Girl-Who-Lived to study there!"

"Yes, yes, Callisto will help to improve the relations with them." Albus agreed happily.

"The creatures will finally see their places and how generous we are…"

"Callisto's presence there will soothe their anger from years past..."

"...and they'll just have to take a position lower than us proper wizards…"

"...she'll be able to integrate us into their circles once more and surely we will be welcomed back…"

And so they continued, both mostly unaware of the other's opinions, cheerfully continuing to fantasize about the successes their excellent plan would bring to Britain. The only thing they really had in common was the use of Callisto Potter and her fame in favor of Britain.

They had no idea that the entirety of their grip on her would slip away the moment Callisto meets _them._ The High Lords. _Them._ And not even Callisto herself would know the consequences of that meeting.

…

[September 4, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]

"None of you are taking blood magic?" Sei sounded disappointed as he sat with his charges as they discussed the classes they had chosen in a secluded corner of the Atrium.

"Those are dark arts." Ron said with a scowl, ignoring Callisto's disappointed sigh and Sei's almost silent growl.

"I," Callisto said before Ron could dig himself a deeper hole, "much prefer Illusion Magic myself. That and Battle Magic" and Serpent Magic, "are the classes I'm most looking forward to."

"Battle magic, yeah! That sounds like a super fun class. We'll get to learn how to fight properly. I bet _Malfoy_ won't be in it, the coward." Ron cheered.

"I took that first year-" Sei commented, "Oieyo's a good teacher. He's a half-elf, surprisingly not condescending and full of interesting facts. Fairly certain the guy's just over 700 or so."

"I don't see why you aren't taking Astronomy, Callie." Hermione said, ignoring much of what Sei had just said. He wasn't a reliable source anyways, he was just a vampire.

"I'm a Black." Callisto sounded amused, "There isn't a magical family in the world who knows the stars better than us. Squibs of the Black family often become astronomers-or are put in insane asylums, but that's Black madness for you-and discover new things. Sirius, though he certainly hates his family, is going to make sure I know all the effects of the stars."

"All three of you are taking Transfiguration, Defense and Battle Magic," Sei drawled over Hermione's spluttered protests that she should take Astronomy, "I'm in the advanced Transfiguration class but I only took Battle Magic my first year on my sire's suggestion." He leaned over Callisto's shoulder to look at the schedule they had gotten a few hours ago, muttering softly to himself. "I was dreadful at it, and I'm sure the assistant had it out for me-much better at the stealthier magics."

"Stealth magic!" Sei exclaims as he sees it written on Callisto's schedule, "That one's fun-Liliane Steven is a lovely teacher. She teaches Defensive magic too? Anyways, stealth magic is more than just hiding yourself it's being able to change your appearance and disguise yourself as anyone you could possibly imagine. Professor Stevens makes you remember traits of dozens of different cultures-I can do plenty of accents now because of it. Quite fun, quite fun."

…

"All three of you are taking nature and defensive magic?" Marcus asked, studying the schedules. He was infinitely glad he was given the most pleasant students. He was fairly certain it was because he had a dozen other jobs at Altair and Mercuriel was being kind.

The three Hufflepuff students he was with nodded happily and looked expectant for more information.

"Yeah I took none of those classes. I _am_ taking stealth and shamanic magic classes, however." Marcus grimaced "Hadriel Quiell, the shamanic magic teacher, is a nature fae and a complete stickler for rules and is biased against everything not fae. You will not get along with him, though he is a decent teacher. Malthus Riveras, who teaches advanced shamanic magic is a bit insane but he's brilliant."

"Muse magic is taught by two sprites-Lucciola and Maren, fire and water sprites respectively." Marcus continues, "They are somehow bonded and get along fabulously and I've heard that class is good for people who can sing."

The three Hufflepuff grinned at each other in excitement, read for the new school year. Nothing would get their spirits down now.

...

[September 4, 1994 :: Great Hall, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry]

The Great hall was rather cheerful that Sunday. School was set to properly start the morning the next morning, and the first years had adjusted well. There had been a lot of curiosity over the students that were absent-whispers of them being in such an incredibly dangerous place, of the heroics of Callisto Potter and how she would 'put the creatures in their places'.

Fred and George didn't know _who_ had started that rumor, but is sure as anything wasn't anyone who had ever spoken to Callisto. As they looked up at the Head Table, they had a decent impression of who it might have been.

Dolores Jane Umbridge. Professor of Defense against the Dark Arts and former Undersecretary to the Minister of Magic.

Or, as rumors had already started, a bigoted toad.

Fred and George were rather proud at the speed in which _that_ particular rumor had spread. Umbridge had caught them a few days ago setting up a prank and had lectured them in her annoyingly high voice about how absolutely dreadful something or other was. All that Fred and George had gotten out of it was that it was going to be another self-study year, and that they should prank her just as much as they had Lockhart.

As if on cue, Umbridge shrieked loudly, making many of the students wince.

"Who did this to my dress!?" she shouted, gesturing wildly, "Whoever did this, detention for a week! A month!"

Her dress-the awful, pasty pink monstrosity it had been-had been changed to the awful robes Albus Dumbledore frequently wore. This time it was a bright yellow with bananas embroidered into the hems in green. Fred and George couldn't wait for the hex to change from day to day, day _after_ day. From eyesore to eyesore, it would be simply...

"Fabulous" Fred whispered to his brother, " _fabulous."_

…

 **Woo!** I didn't expect this chapter to be longer than 3,000 words :O

I was going to add in another scene but then I was lazy and so instead made brownies because that seemed like it was a much better endeavour. I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'd like to thank all of you for getting me (as of right now) 226 Followers and 151 Favorites, as well as 94 Reviews. All of you are amazing. I'm amazing. Everyone's amazing. Whateveer~!

TWENTY CHAPTERS DOWN! HURRAH!

Here's a character list, if I should add anyone you have no idea who is tell me and I'll add them:

 **Teachers:**

 _Riveren Aizaguirre::_ HEADMASTER of Altair, Vampire of over 2,000 years of age

 _Alish Mercuriel::_ DEPUTY HEADMISTRESS of Altair, weather fae

 _Aeldyn Solaris::_ Illusion Magic Professor at Altair, Vampire, 2,500 years of age

 _Caracalla Ircoriel::_ Professor at Altair, Elder Vampire, over 3,000 years of age

 _Malthus Riveras::_ Nature Magic Professor at Altair, nature fae

 _Adrea Vesalien::_ Healing Magic Professor and head Healer at Altair, human

 _Silaes::_ Only naga on staff, serpent magic teacher

 _Jonathan Powell::_ Transfiguration Professor

 _William Sottero::_ previously a blood magic professor, now teaching Culture to the Hogwarts students.

*full list of classes and teachers in ch. 17

 **Students:**

 _Sei Verrick::_ VAMPIRE, studies blood magic and necromancy, Gryffindor mentor

 _Reid Strelem::_ VAMPIRE, studies battlemagic

 _Syrul & Syenn::_ NAGA, Callisto's naga mentors and bonded mates

 _Marcus Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, studying illusion and shamanic magics, Hufflepuff mentor

 _Reagan Lorenzo::_ HUMAN, sister of Marcus

 _Lirienne Jordan::_ WEREWOLF, Marcus's girlfriend

 _Soren Mallouren::_ FAE, highly antagonistic towards non-fae, especially daemons, vampires and humans

 _Lorcan I'vores::_ EARTH DAEMON, has a debt owed by Callisto, studies earth magic and offensive magic, Ravenclaw mentor

 _Olivier Volren::_ WATER FAE, studying elemental magic, nature and fae magic, Slytherin mentor


	21. Chapter 21

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count:: 3,984_

 _[September 5, 1994 :: Aeldyn Solaris' Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Callisto couldn't say if she was glad or worried that this was her very first class at Altair. While she absolutely loved using illusion magic, she was still more than wary about the Altair students. They were all incredibly interesting and diverse… and therein lies the problem. Callisto-no matter what Snape or Petunia would have ever said-was _not_ an idiot dunderhead, and she knew very well that many of the Hogwarts students would just be causing increasingly disastrous problems with _everyone_ in Altair… and that as usual, she would be forced to last minute save and defend them.

Callisto just hoped that if any of the other Hogwarts students shared this class with her they would at least have common sense.

Callisto slipped into the illusion magic classroom at about 6:50, not even bothering to complain at the terrible time. She'd waken earlier with the Dursley's, and it wasn't as if she wasn't _totally excited goodmerlinillusionmagic-finallyateacher~!_

Yeah. Callisto had been ready for class for almost an hour.

Even seeing Blaise Zabini-someone she'd never even spoken to before-enter the class didn't ruin her excited mood. It didn't even stop when he (somewhat reluctantly) took the seat to her right and offered a polite greeting. It didn't die out when Aeldyn Solaris-the professor and a really ( _really_ ) old vampire- entered the classroom and made her magic react in the same manner it had to Headmaster Aizaguirre. She was still cheerfully excited when a girl with dark hair and a permanent frown sat down on her left when it was the last seat open and only returned her greeting with an icy glare.

It did start to die out when the student directly in front of her turned around with a raised eyebrow and a disdainful sneer. He glanced between Callisto and Blaise with an unimpressed, contemptuous glare. "I will never be able to understand why little humans-especially students of such a place like _Hogwarts_ would ever think they could perform well in this class." His lip curled to show more than a little sharp teeth, "You'll be gone before the month is out. Honestly, I don't understand why the teachers even let you in."

It disappeared even further as the teacher practically agreed, "While you make a valid point, Mister Maeorin, there is always a chance at finding greatness in anyone. Sometimes greatness is hidden by deceit… by, ah… _illusions_ of weakness."

Some of the students snicker-whether in disbelief or derisiveness-and glance back at the two Hogwarts students. Callisto assumes that they think _their_ greatness is hidden by _actual_ weakness.

("It's not," she wants to protest, "I'm good with illusions-I _have_ power and-" but she knows that it wont go over well. She'd said similar lines to Snape when he was still alive, and all the response he'd ever given was disdain. _The best way to prove yourself is to show you can,_ she remembers someone telling her. _Well,_ Callisto thought, looking at Maeorin's back as he muttered something to the person next to him, _I guess I'll just show him I deserve to be here._ )

"Aeldyn Solaris," the teacher introduced himself with a wicked grin and a flash of fangs, "One of the founders of the Guild of Illusionists. You are here to be taught how to be the greatest… expect to be taught by the greatest." His eyes travel over the students with a sort of professional curiosity, almost as if he was picking out who he thought would last and who he thought would stay another year.

Callisto only tensed when his eyes passed her over, ignoring the way her magic itched beneath her skin. His eyes were the same shimmering golden shade that Headmaster Aizaguirre had but they seemed to be more metallic. Callisto wondered briefly if it was a trait all old vampires shared or if they were different.

"Illusion Magic." Solaris continued regally, "It is a branch of magic generally considered weaker or less useful by the majority of people. You are unable to physically interact with anything, unable to physically injure someone, incapable of making shields or altering the environment… _physically._

"The key word in all of this is _physically._ You are incapable of doing any of this… _physically._ " Solaris paused and grinned, "Illusion magic is mental. Illusion of sight, the simplest sense to trick, illusion of sound, almost as simple… but then it becomes more difficult. Illusion of smell-there are varieties of smells for the same thing and you have to ensure you are causing the exact one you mean to-or even more difficult, illusion of _taste._ It is not impossible to cause, difficult, perhaps, but not impossible.

"But none of these hold even a candle to the power of illusion of touch. Illusion of _mind_. Touch alone can drive someone insane, can make them believe wholeheartedly that they have interacted with any other illusion you may create. You can make a person believe with all of their mind that they are dead-of course, you would need to know how death feels for that to be truly efficient, and none of you have that experience." He pauses again and his eyes travel over the enraptured students.

"Experience. By far one of the most intrinsic pieces of illusion magic. If you do not know what something looks like, how could you hope to replicate it? If you are incapable of remembering the sound of something, how could you ever replicate it?"

"If you wanted to create the illusion of a dragon, you would have to know exactly how they appeared, how the heat of their fire felt in the air. Who of you has ever seen a dragon?"

Callisto glanced at Blaise before both of them raised their hands. They certainly weren't the only ones-Maeorin had raised his hand haughtily, along with two others-a scarred man ( _vampire!_ Her magic whispered) that reminded Callisto of both Bill and Charlie Weasley, and pretty girl that reminded her wholly of Fleur and Gabrielle Delacour. Veela, then.

"Who of you five know how their fire feels? Or their claws? Or how they smell or the sound of their roar?" While Blaise and the veela lowered their hands, "Replicate it. To the best of your ability, of course." Solaris sounded almost daring.

Callisto felt her magic jump at the chance, immediately going to the Hungarian Horntail. _Yeah, no._ Callisto grimaced and brought up the image of Norberta, the young Norwegian Ridgeback from her first year. The space in front of her seat flickered briefly until it shimmered to form the dragon egg. _Right-_ Callisto focuses on the way Norberta had hatched. The egg in front of her cracks, shaking in the way Callisto doubted she would ever forget, the way the egg had smoked and cracked and Norberta's claws as they pried the shell open and her adorable little head with wickedly sharp spines and the way she'd blinked her eyes open and shot a flume of fire straight at Callisto.

It was almost surreal watching her memories be mirrored in front of her as Norberta was formed in flickering illusions upon her desk as the little dragon crawled around in the oddly distinct manner of the Norwegian Ridgeback. Callisto focuses on solidifying the illusion until it looked far closer to reality than Callisto would have expected.

"Well done, Potter, Johannas, Maeorin." Solaris said approvingly. Callisto glanced up at the work of the two other students. Johannas-who she assumed was the vampire-had created a realistic replica of the Chinese Fireball that Viktor Krum had fought, fiery red skin and golden spikes around its snout, yellow-orange eyes and flumes of fire escaping its snout. It was only a little bigger than the model Krum had pulled out of the bag only a _lot_ more furious. The little dragon, however, sounded a _lot_ like the furious roars of the fully grown, enraged dragon Krum had upset. It was a weird combination.

Maeorin, on the other hand, had created a replica of a dragon Callisto had never even heard of described before. It was shimmering purple, with scales that almost looked like feathers and wicked green eyes. It didn't make any noise, however, like Callisto's.

"Potter, Maeorin, attempt to add illusion of sound."

Callisto focused on the weak, half-roars and sniffles Norberta had made, the sound of her claws on Hagrid's table. She was only able to get about halfway-the sounds of her movement were correct, the ruffling of her wings and the clack of claws but her roars? Norberta _sounded_ like a fully-grown, furious Hungarian Horntail. It was hard, Callisto noted, to focus on the sound of a young Norberta when you distinctly remember a Hungarian Horntail trying to eat you. Of course there was also the fact that her magic felt incredibly giddy at the fact Norberta was roaring like a full grown dragon.

At least she did better than Maeorin, whose dragon didn't even sound like a dragon.

"There are various issues with these illusions." Solaris started with Johannas', who was closest to the front. "Johannas did not match sound with size, and there is no sound of the Fireball's interaction with the environment. It's appearance is almost flawless, however, which is impressive.

"Maeorin, who is mirroring the most common Elvish dragon" ( _So he's an_ elf, Callisto thought in surprise as Solaris moved to Maeorin's desk in front of her.) "Has the sound of one of the winged cats that the elves are fond of. The appearance is slightly off-this Elvish dragons have no _feathers,_ for example and they have four claws not three.

"Potter," Solaris moved to the front of her desk, "Seems to have mixed up a baby Norwegian Ridgeback with a mothering, defensive Hungarian Horntail. An odd combination. You can hear the dragon's interaction with the wooden table. The biggest issue is the speed and way the dragon was created with the illusions. Generally, you will have too little time to _hatch_ a dragon from an egg-though I am sure you could use it as a party trick-and you want your dragon to be solid in appearance as it is created, not create it and then refine it, which is a process used solely in much larger and complex illusions."

 _Well then._ Callisto thought in surprise, _That went better than I thought it would._

…

"Hey Potter!" someone called as they exited the illusion classroom an hour later. It was Johannas, the vampire who'd made the Chinese Fireball dragon.

Callisto let him catch up with her as she and Blaise walked towards their next class-Charms. "Jamie Johannas, of the Johannas Coven for Half-Born."

(Did all vampires introduce themselves that way? Reid Strelem had later introduced himself as "Reid Strelem, of the Strelem Family of Hunters," and Solaris had mentioned his allegiance to the Guild of Illusionists. She'd ask Verrick later)

Johannas nodded as Callisto introduced both herself and Blaise carefully. "I intern at the Amazon Dragon Sanctuary," Johannas elaborates, which was likely why his dragon had been so well built, "We have never had traditional European dragons there-the only reason there was Chinese Fireball was because the poor dragon had gotten lost. I'm curious as to where you saw a Ridgeback and Horntail?"

"Oh, well Norberta…"

(When they reached the Charms class, Callisto referenced Charlie Weasley and suggested they got in contact, because truly he knew more about European dragons, and that maybe she could tell him about the Horntail at a later date?)

…

 _[September 5, 1994 :: Jonathan Powell's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Morning," Jonathan Powell greeted at exactly nine, as a final student (and _of course_ it's Ron Weasley) rushes into the classroom. Callisto was sitting towards the back with Luna and Susan next to her, and Hannah next to Susan. All three had been chattering non-stop about how delightful Muse Magic was (and how utterly incredible Lucciola and Maren, fire and water sprites respectively who taught the class and were "So incredible!")

The class contained all twelve of the Hogwarts students, and another dozen of miscellaneous Altair students-only one of whom Callisto recognized as the girl who had sat next to her in Illusion, who she'd later found out was Sarah Romano, an American girl (human, apparently) whose parents had come from Italy. She wasn't nearly as unapproachable as Callisto had thought, and had a knack at transfiguration and was not very good with charms.

( _Maybe_ , Callisto thought wryly, _I can get her help in transfiguration in exchange for help in charms so I don't have to deal with Granger being snide in tutoring._ Callisto never did have the same affinity for transfiguration as her father had.)

"Charms; spells that alter an object without changing its nature. Summoning, banishing, animation, sound, and what have you. To start off, we are going to go through all of the charms you know, and then talk with the people who sit next to you to find out the charms _they_ know that you might not, and then with other students around the class. I'll give you, say 30 minutes, to figure out as many _Charms_ as you can, as well as what they do. The rest of the first class will be spent making sure you _actually know how to perform them._ "

Callisto pulled out a notebook (and how thankful she was when she realized Altair didn't require you to use quills and parchment) and started scribbling down all of the charms she remembered learning and their variations. _Lumos (Solem, Maximus), Wingardium Leviosa, Leviosa_ (to levitate something, though it took more magic than Wingardium Leviosa), _Aguamenti, Animus, Accio, Proello_ (to banish something), _Tintinabula_ (that charm Susan had used to make a sound like a chime), _Eximo_ (which was used to untie knots and remove bindings), _Ossigeno Maschile_ (the bubble-head charm, something she'd learned after the second task), _Tingol_ (which, added to the name of a color in Latin, became a nifty color changing charm), _Hilaritem_ (the cheering charm)

Callisto was somewhat disappointed to realize she only really knew twelve charms, and turned to her companions and the other students for more ideas. (30 minutes later, Callisto had learned almost half a dozen new spells she wasn't entirely sure she could perform, but was excited to know.)

…

"As most of you are able to perform the spells you have down, we'll start, very briefly, on unspoken and wandless magic and its use in charms. Generally, every charm is able to be performed silently, and most you can perform wandlessly. Unspoken is generally easier-you think of the spell, for now I'll show summoning, so _Accio_ , and then you focus on your magic and your intention through your wand and you, for lack of a better word, _pull._ "

Professor Powell pointed his wand at a mug on the other side of the room and without even a noise he flicked his wand and the mug flung itself into his hand with a loud _smack!_. "Obviously, speed and force are difficult to control with the use of unspoken magic. It takes much more effort to regulate them, and even more so wandlessly. Obviously," and here Powell sent the mug back to its spot with a wave of his wand and then set his wand on his desk and held out a hand. "It is possible to modify them." The mug sped halfway towards him before slowing down and floating leisurely over to his open hand.

"After you learn a spell vocally and with your focus, you should always, _always_ figure out how to perform it _at least_ unspoken and to try to make it wandless."

…

 _[September 5, 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"So, Azzie, how was illusion magic?" Susan asked as all of the Hogwarts students sat together, most sitting at one of the large circular tables while the others sat on the grass and rocks around them. Callisto was sprawled on a rock leaning against one of the tall columns (one of the few places with sun in their area), already exhausted from the two classes they had. Callisto was glad she only had one more class that day-even though it was "Physical Combat and Exercise."

"Interesting. I didn't realize that what I used to do was a mix of charms, transfiguration and illusion magic, which was what made it so easy. They were efficient… sort of. They took far more magic than I probably needed to use and basically sort of transfigured air and animated it? I'm not entirely sure _what_ I was doing, but actual, far more realistic Illusion Magic is more sturdy and reliable, and it would have taken less time and magic to do." Callisto explained.

"Basically, I was doing it so wrong that it could have been detrimental to my magic and education if I kept going, so I learned a lot."

…

"No, Susan, Hannah, I _still don't want to transfer to Muse Magic!_ "

…

"I didn't realize how kind of easy it was to do unspoken and wandless magic." Callisto said wryly, "I mean it's certainly not _easy,_ but I already figured out _Lumos_ and the levitation charm unspoken and wandless, though I suppose it helps that I understand both of the charms fairly well."

"It's easiest to do wandless but spoken." Luna says airily, "Then the Nargles can't infect your wand."

"I'm sure, Moonbeam," Callisto murmurs, "You know what the illusion magic 'homework' is? _Observe and listen._ It's good homework, I suppose, nice and easy. I'm glad it's one of the classes we have twice a week."

"I'm excited for Nature Magic tomorrow." Susan says instead of complaining on how easy that is compared to the Muse Magic homework (basically; practice practice practice). "I mean, that has to be one of the coolest classes they have here!"

"Don't forget we also have potions tomorrow, though I doubt it could be nearly as bad as potions with-" Hannah broke off as she remembered the fact that their professor had died. She may not have liked the guy (and even though she didn't blame Callisto for his death) she didn't really think Professor Snape had deserved to die. It might have been a minority opinion in Hogwarts, though.

…

"Hey, Potter." came a smooth voice as someone approached their little group. Callisto only glanced up before returning to the intense game of Exploding Snap she was playing with Susan, Hannah and Luna.

"Johannas," Callisto greeted, leaning back as one of the cards exploded and glancing up at the vampire.

"You said you'd tell me how you saw a Horntail?"

"I think _saw_ is a bit of an understatement." Callisto says after a moment, handing her cards to Luna and facing the interested vampire. "See, it started with the Triwizard Tournament…"

…

 _[September 5, 1994 :: Dueling Platforms, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Headmistress Mercuriel rather graciously put the lot of you Hogwarts students in the Physical Defense class, saying something about not wanting you all to break or something." the teacher said cooly-he'd introduced himself as Nicholas Warner, an incubus. He had rather ordinary brown hair, but it was paired with some of the most vibrant, nearly aquamarine eyes Callisto had seen. His aura reminded Callisto slightly of that of Fleur's (though his was about four times as powerful and was affecting her _just_ a little more.) "Any of you have experience with physically exercising?"

Callisto, Luna, Terry, Justin and Draco were the only to raise their hands. Draco apparently considered Quidditch something physically exerting. (While it was what Callisto was counting, she greatly doubted that Malfoy and the Slytherin team had _actually_ practiced that much, choosing rather to cheat. Oliver Wood had been an evil taskmaster, though, and had rather brutally made them run laps every practice along with various other incredibly uncomfortable exercises Callisto wouldn't forget any time soon.)

"That's pathetic." Warner said, sounding disgusted, though it didn't really make him look at all worse. If anything, it made Callisto want to prove herself to the rather handsome incubus. "It's no wonder few of you actually made it on time." His eyes narrowed, and he pointed to the opposite end of the long track of dueling platforms, split in the center by a long pathway. The far end was up a hill (though not a steep one) and a good ways away. "Run there and back three times. Last four students back are being used as target practice. Now _go!"_

Go they went.

…

To really no one's surprise, Daphne, Draco, Hermione (who had never _really_ run far in her life, even in primary school) and Ron were the last four. Warner made them run a fourth time while making the other students stretch out and get started on exercises.

It was painful, tiring and something Callisto never really wanted to do again. Then she remembered she had it five days of the week. Damn.

…

Callisto didn't really think of Warner as either 'pretty' or 'handsome' after that, rather describing him mentally as 'fucking evil' and 'probably a jerk'.

…

 _[September 5, 1994 :: Nuala Sikkel's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Nuala Sikkel" Nuala introduced herself. "Fire daemon."

Nuala Sikkel, the "Introduction to Blood Magic" teacher eyed the newest students- especially the trio of Hogwarts students, Terry Boot, Draco Malfoy and Blaise Zabini -with the same sort of intrigued hunger she had every student before them. Nuala prided herself on being one of the most feared daemon's on campus. Students made sure they were _never_ on their own with her, and made doubly sure that they never really upset her, lest she roast them (likely alive) and feed them to her-in Nuala's opinion-adorable draken.

It was one of the reasons Aizaguirre had appointed her as the Introduction to Blood Magic teacher. If the students survived and were still determinedly in the class at the end of the year with her, they would probably do incredibly well in the more advanced and intrinsic Blood Magic classes later on.

Nuala _was_ a good teacher, and she was decently fair and would usually help her students, and she was a brilliant introductory teacher. She knew what she was talking about, and had a rather wicked flare for scaring off students.

"Blood magic." Nuala starts, like she had every year before, "is a type of magic employing one's blood as a channel for their magic. The majority of a person's magic is contained in their blood, rather than their skin or bones, and so can be accessed using rather specific techniques. Blood magic is something that enhances abilities already present rather than creating new ones by drawing runic patterns on ones body to channel and amplify abilities that are there."

Nuala's eyes traveled over the students, assessing the class of twenty, "Because of the necessity to quite literally carve runes into your skin, this is one of the most dangerous and failed classes in all of history. You have to have a predisposition to both dealing with pain and not being queasy, because both of those things would be very, very bad to not have when you are _carving into your skin._ "

Some of the students-likely those who had relatives or affinities for blood magic-snickered softly. "If you are a vampire," Nuala continued after they silenced, "You will likely do better, but it does mean you have to be a little more careful about who you drink from. If you upset the balance of magic in your blood it could throw off your rune sets completely, which would likely kill you."

"Only about maybe a quarter of this class- _five of you_ -will make it do the next year of blood magic. Maybe half of you will quit, and the other quarter will end up very dead."

Nuala grinned wickedly, the smile making her seem all the more dangerous, "It's going to be a fun, fun year at Altair."

…

 **Well… yeah….**

So this is totally not like two weeks later than it should be (or whatever I honestly don't remember). I SWEAR I MEANT TO UPDATE SOONER! I just…. didn't . It took me a really long time to figure out how to write this chapter for some reason, so there's that. Also I'm apparently just really lazy over break, but hey! This was a long chapter!

So sorry about that.

The next few (or more than few) are honestly just going to be a week of classes at Altair before I really get moving-partially to introduce characters and new ideas and partially so I can figure out what exactly I'm going to introduce _first_. I'll try my best to actually write….

Yeah….

Ta~!


	22. Chapter 22

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count:: 1,972_

 _[Letter :: Callisto Potter to Sirius Black, Remus Lupin]_

September 5, 1994

Dearest Messrs Padfoot and Moony, Marauders Extraordinaire,

I know you've been waiting eagerly for this letter and all the lavish praise for Hogwarts, but I'm sorry to disappoint you. Altair is just… THE MOST INCREDIBLE PLACE EVER! Well, I mean I already almost died it's a dangerous school, and there are a lot things I'm going to have to learn to be able to do well, or even survive but that's where the fun is, isn't it? Today I had Illusion Magic, Charms and "Physical Combat," except in that last one the teacher only really made us exercise… a lot.

Illusion Magic has to be one of the most interesting classes I've ever taken! Not that it has much competition… Solaris (the teacher) is kind of terrifying. He's a vampire, not that that is the reason he's terrifying, (one of the students was incredibly rude to him and he broke the majority of his fingers, fixable but painful) but he's powerful and interesting and an _incredible_ teacher. I already learned quite a bit.

Charms-we spent most of the day going over what we already knew, and then Powell showed us how easy it was to change the spells we already knew to unspoken and wandless-focus and a little extra power. Moony, because I'm sure you're going to want me to teach it to you later anyways, for unspoken magic all you really have to do is focus your magic on your intention and just _do._ It's probably not a good thing to try and explain though a letter.

Both of those classes were incredibly fun… and then there was the "Physical Combat" class… Yeah. It was far less "Physical Combat" and far more "Screw You and Exercise." I'm incredibly glad I didn't have to do classes after that.

The dorms-if they could even be called that-are just small flat-type thing for two people. I'm sharing with Luna, who has already put up a wreath of dirigible plums and corks on all of the doors inside the rooms. She made the walls of the sitting room yellow (thankfully a paler color) and somehow made the furniture pink. It looks incredibly odd and slightly terrifying.

If you want to eat anything that isn't meal or species-specific (like raw meat… or this weird herb thing the fae seem to eat that actually makes you feel like you just ate fire) you have to make it yourself. Thankfully, they have a massive, open market type thing-it's partially student run for different crafted items students have made (things they enchanted or hand crafted, some incredible formal clothing and even food items and potions) but also has a rather expansive food market. There is a rather violently enforced rule of no violence or sabotage (or poisoning) in the entire market, which is directly enforced by angry teachers.

I absolutely love being here!

Anyways, Luna's attempting to cook and I think she might have set something on fire, so I bid you farewell with bounteous love and adoration,

Azzie

…

 _[September 6, 1994 :: Student Garden, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"I still don't understand why we're meeting in a _garden_ instead of a classroom." Hannah complained softly, "It's early morning and _cold,_ and they are still making us go outside?"

"Why didn't you bring a sweater?" Susan asked, sounding rather amused as she covered Hannah in a warming charm.

"It's a class for Nature Magic, it makes sense for it to be outside." Callisto comments idly as they joined the various other students waiting for the teacher. The majority were fae or daemons, (and quite frequently those with either earth or water specialization) with various Naga, fauns, elves and humans. Of the Hogwarts entourage, her close three friends, Justin and Daphne were also taking the Nature Magic class.

One of the fauns trotted over to them in the few minutes before class, grinning brightly and looking utterly innocent. Callisto absently remembers someone mentioning that they had a tendency to be thieves and tricksters but come on, the faun looked as if he couldn't hurt a fly. He had adorable stubby horns and looked like he couldn't be more than 13 years old (he was, of course, but fauns had a certain permanent youthfulness to them that made them look far too young).

" 'Lo," the faun greeted them, "You're from Europe, yeah?" His accent was probably one of the oddest Callisto had heard so far (and there had been quite a few different ones), sounding too-young and childish.

Justin grins lightly, the first of them to step forward with an agreement and a greeting. The faun shook his hand exuberantly and seemed to bounce from foot… hoof… to hoof.

"Names June," he blurts, beaming, "No, s'not a girls name, but a proper faun's name. Dunno why anyone would ever say it was a girls name-but you're from Britain? My great-great-summat' or another Rhad lived in Britain-said it was a drab, dreary place. Rhad'd lived in one of those magic forests, living with centaurs" (the title of 'centaurs' seemed to evoke a certain amount of awe from June) "Have you ever seen a centaur? I know lots of fauns who'd love to see a centaur-"

"That's enough chatter." the teacher interrupted, striding into the open garden from one of the arches Callisto hadn't realized was a doorway.

"Malthus Riveras." his tone was rather cold, "forest fae, if you needed to know. Many people underestimate the usefulness of nature magic. It is certainly a far more subtle magic, utilizing the inherent magic inside of natural organisms-hence the name 'Nature Magic'-and either manipulating it or 'reading' it, finding out what it could be used for most efficiently.

"Nature magic is similarly a study of the consequences that magic of all types can have on natural ecosystems and individual organisms, and as such is only truly utilizable by creatures and beings inside of natural order. Vampires, for example, cannot access much if any nature magic as they are _dead_ and should not…" Riveras hesitates, gesturing absently with one hand as the rather enraptured students listened on, "and would never have existed without the influence of 'unnatural' means."

He watches all of the students closely, "Of course, that is a term that should be taken lightly, and is largely given definitions based solely on a solitary individual's thoughts of the subject."

"Nature Magic is most frequently used as a passive class, the majority of the curriculum revolving solely around teaching the differences in the magic inherent in an organism's biology." Here he held out an arm, poise relaxed, "However, I will be teaching you both that and how that inherent magic can be manipulated to the discretion of someone's power."

There were harsh wingbeats and a quick shadow before a bird landed harshly on Riveras' outstretched arm. It was small, with a golden breast and dark brown feathers on its wings and back.

"This is Vavi, a Shikra. They are small birds of prey in Asia and Africa, also known as goshawks. Now, these are inherently non-magical species, only carrying the wisps of earth and air magic that come from the region they were born in. In Vavi, however, there is a much higher amount of air magic-something I drew into her egg before she had hatched. I pulled on the inherent natural magics that remained in her and pushed in the magics inherent in a roc-specifically the air magic that allows them their strength, giving Vavi an incredible amount of strength for her size.."

"That is not something you will be capable of doing anytime soon, the magic and concentration required being at a level of Mastery or-possibly-apprenticeship."

Riveras seemed dismissive of the delighted curiosity present in the majority of the students, "Today, however, you will spend the day trying to see the differences between non-magical organisms and their magical counterparts."

…

 _[September 6, 1994 :: Lilianne Stevens' Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Stealth magic is one of the most imprecise branches of magic, as it requires someone to want with their entire being not to be noticed-and whether your human, vampire werewolf daemon or fae, we all _want_ to be noticed." Lilianne started, just as she had every year before.

"In this class, I plan to teach you more than just the magical ways of hiding yourself-to become literally invisible, to change your scent, to hide the sound of your feet or clothing-but rather how to blend in, how to change your accent, how to dress like you belong, how to deceive and appease anyone you interact with.

"An old student of mine once told me that this class was, at its core, How to be Cunning, How to _Lie…"_ Lilianne stops, watching the reactions from the students. Only two of the Hogwarts group look upset by this, and only three of the traditional Altair group do. It's more than last year.

"He wasn't wrong, but he wasn't right, either."

Lilianne knew this was the turning point for her students. Next week's class would have far fewer students, some deciding against Stealth Magic, and it was important not to teach people who wouldn't use the talent they'd gain.

"Stealth Magic teaches you how to use your talents to their full advantage, without being stopped. It teaches you how to achieve your goals without interruption, how to balance a blunt hammer with a delicate dagger. It will teach you that there are times to act and times to wait.

"I will teach you how to hide, how to disappear in to the shadows and never be noticed… and I'll teach you when to use that."

(Blaise thought, just as gleefully excited at this opportunity, that this was _just_ what he _needed_ to learn… Susan thought her Auntie Amelia would probably tell her that this is what criminals learnt, but also that it would help her _find_ those using stealth magic much more easily. Callisto just wanted to get out of the limelight.)

…

 _[Letter :: Callisto Potter to Fred and George Weasley]_

September 6, 1994

Dear Fred and George,

First of all, Altair is incredible. There's an incredible diversity and its bright and wonderful. There are pranksters here-though I believe the proper term is "Trickster" as the majority are somewhat malicious and far less moral than the two of you are. I'll make sure to send you notes on things I think you would find interesting at a later date (probable potions and stealth magic-both are incredibly interesting classes, by the way. I honestly advise you attending one of the sister schools with specializations, there isn't a school for tricksters, but there is an Academy of Invention or something that would probably help you figure out and improve ideas in your joke shop)

Anyways, a little bird told me that there's a horrible Ministry 'toad' (direct word they used) trying to ruin Hogwarts. You two have any masterful plans? Who replaced Snape? Do they teach better? Have you gotten away with any good pranks? Any new pranksters coming out?

Alright the point of this was mostly suggesting that Academy, I just checked on the name and it's the Metis Academy of Creation and Invention, located… somewhere. As the sole investor in WWW, I would greatly nudge you to having more of a base in places where they would appreciate your knowledge and talent.

And _that_ sounded mildly pretentious and reminded me greatly of Malfoy…

Oh, I don't know if your brother has mentioned it but at this point in time there is a large group of Altair students that probably wouldn't mind attacking him for some of the comments he's made. Maybe tell him to shut up? He hasn't been listening to me and has been isolating Granger even more.

Mischief Managed, as always,

Callisto Potter

…

 **Ergh**

So, I've been on vacation the last week, and I'm going on a _new_ trip the next week and a half or so, and then I go back to school… so basically there might not be a new chapter anytime soon. (It will hopefully be much longer, as well…)

I had a lot of fun though, and will hopefully have fun on this next trip too.

This chapter was going to be longer but then it wasn't.

~Insubstantial


	23. Chapter 23

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count:: 2,043_

 _[September 7, 1994 :: Aeldyn Solaris's Classroom]_

Aeldyn could say he was honestly somewhat impressed with the turnout in Illusion Magic. He had a good few hopeful students… and there was _her._ Potter. Caracalla Ircoriel had mentioned her to him of course, he'd mentioned a _lot_ about her. Her oddly familiar magic, the way it would curl around her possessively in a way that magic normally never did. The sentient feeling her magic let off, the oddly bright green eyes that had looked at him with appreciation and so much curiosity.

The little fae Riveras thought it wasn't natural. When Caracalla heard he'd laughed and laughed before exclaiming that " _Of course it's not!"_... and then he hadn't bothered to explain. Aeldyn recalled momentary thoughts of someone else-green eyes and strawberry blonde hair that had been _so foreign_ to him in his youth, so different than the dark hair and eyes of Korinth. Caracalla had warned him to never underestimate _them_ , told him frigidly that he would treat _them_ as he would his king or Caracalla would-

It was considerably more difficult to recall further than two-and-a-half thousand years ago than two thousand.

He knew, of course, much of how _their_ magic worked. Caracalla had ensured that he hadn't forgotten that particular lesson. (And hadn't it been an interesting lesson. _They_ had rather cheerfully told Caracalla and Aeldyn all about the interesting ways it would react… and that it was utterly unpredictable. It was supposed to be impossible, but around _them_ nothing was really impossible.) But he found it increasingly difficult to remember _them._

Aeldyn was certain that Caracalla was at least partly at fault for his forgetfulness, but he couldn't say he was truly upset with him. Caracalla had been his first mentor all those years ago, and he owed him far too many debts.

If not mentioning the curious way Potter's magic would shiver and twist in a nearly frantic attempt to hide, or the way her magic gleefully jumped at the opportunity to make illusions, unused to the changes in the magic (and _of course_ Aeldyn noticed that her magic had gone straight to forcing the magic as if it hadn't changed in thousands of years), if not mentioning any of that to anyone but Caracalla helped him pay off even the slightest of those unspoken debts…

Well, Aeldyn always did have an uncharacteristic amount of patience.

…

"Today we're going to be recreating the movement of an animal." Solaris says the moment the clock strikes seven. "Movement and shape, first, and then color and realisticness, and then sound and possibly even touch."

Callisto was already excited. Solaris had promised more instruction the previous class, mentioning that he would help them through the creation of this illusion instead of just suggesting they attempt it.

"This," Solaris flicks his hand, dismantling an illusion that covered an oak perch, on which sat a beautifully plumed bird, "is Alya."

"Alya is a young alicanto, birds that traditionally stay in the Chilean regions. They have the habit of gifting miners with good fortune." Solaris explains as he lets the bird move to his wrists. Alya's wings fluttered briefly, golden light reflecting oddly off of her brilliantly plumed wings. "They seem to glow during dusk and dawn, and many of the younger alicanto will shine well into the night."

"Alya is Profe Calmenero's-one of our runes teachers-companion. By the end of today, I expect you to be able to create the start of a realistic illusion of Alya."

…

 _I did not plan on this…._ Callisto thought as she stared down at what was _supposed_ to be Alya. It wasn't. It was a very distinct recreation of Fawkes, all glorious red and orange feathers with their golden highlights and _distinctly not an alicant._

"Potter can't even get it to look like the right kind of bird." she hears Maeorin comment nastily to the other elf sitting next to him. Callisto hadn't bothered trying to figure out their name-if they were important enough she would learn it eventually.

"Indeed," Solaris comments, moving idly towards her, "having problems?"

"I think it has to do with the fact that I keep mentally comparing Alya and Fawkes." Callisto mutters, grimacing. She glances at Blaise's illusion, which _did_ have distinctly reddish feathers that were definitely several shares away from Alya's silver and gold ones.

"It is a frequent challenge that occurs with beginning illusionists." Solaris says agreeably, raising his voice to collect the attention of the class. "One of the great problems is that people with more experiences often accidentally combine some of them, picking up bits and pieces from different memories and mashing them together.

"For this example, Potter is using an image of a phoenix and comparing it with Alya. She is, in a way, layering the images on top of one another and choosing the one she views as more impressive-the phoenix. You can notice, however, that the beak and claws on her illusion resemble those of Alya's far greater than that of phoenixes."

Yeah, Callisto hadn't noticed that.

Solaris spent a few moments explaining to the (quite a few) people who were 'layering' the images of different birds over each other how to separate them and create an illusion of only what they wanted-which was an image of Alya.

...

 _[September 7, 1994 :: Oieyo's Classroom]_

For some reason, the Battle Magic classroom (which from the outside was the same size as every other classroom) was shaped like a half amphitheatre. There was a large semicircle at one end and steps and seats expanding outward and upward from it. On the very top level (which was above the entrance by a meter or so) the class was surrounded by sets of armor from all different cultures and different sets of 'armor' that was similar to the battle robes Callisto had noticed in Grimmauld Place.

Against the back of the semicircle, the enclosed amphitheater had several doors leading somewhere, only one of which Oieyo had pointed out as the entrance to his office. Callisto had found a seat closer to the bottom, Susan on one side providing a thankful buffer to both Hermione and Ron, and with Terry on her other side. Callisto had noticed Draco, Blaise and Michael somewhere in the class. (She also noted that Blaise looked particularly miserable that he had to be listening to Draco jabber on and on about how this was such an incredibly dark magic skill type to learn and how he couldn't possibly _wait_ to show off to his mother.)

The class was surprisingly large, most of the amphitheater filling up rapidly in the short time. There must have been over three dozen students in the class, though there was certainly enough room to fit them all.

Callisto could honestly say she had been eagerly waiting since Monday for the opportunity to take this class. Seriously, it was _Battle Magic-_ not a course that is at all recommended to allow anyone under 30 to even listen to-and she was learning it at 15. She knew full well that Ron and Hermione thought it was just offensive magic… it really wasn't, and Oieyo had made it clear how very different they were early on.

Oieyo was a half-elf, with tanned skin that was covered in a multitude of scars that seemed endless. He had short dark brown hair and a rather weary expression. Amber eyes traveled expectantly over the class, peering closely at each student. His only visible weapon was a knife strapped against his hip, though Callisto had the feeling he was hiding quite a few more, given that he taught _battle magic_ and _physical combat_.

"A great number of people are under the assumption that Battle Magic is an extention or even just a different name for classical offensive magic that was developed worldwide. Battle Magic is in truth a term used particularly to describe the traditional magic of a culture that was once-and even that still is-used in war or wider combat spectrums than solely duels and one-on-one combat." Oieyo had begun the class, voice echoing strangely in the oddly amphitheatre-like classroom.

"There are various branches of Battle Magic-Scopic, which is magic that can affect a wide area; Precise, which is magic you _would_ use in duels and single combat; Wardic or Aegetic, which pertain to wards and _aegises_ , or shielding magic. Those are the three that I will be focusing on for the majority of this year. There _are_ quite a few others but they are far more difficult and incredibly specified." Oieyo continued, standing in the centre of the stage.

"Not to mention fucking stupid." an Altair student from behind Callisto commented under their breath, "Like seriously? _Projectile Magic?_ I don't need to know how to _throw thricedamned snails at people with magic._ "

The student and the group surrounding him all snickered under their breath, cutting off when Oieyo's eyes narrowed on them.

"I do agree that the Projectile branch of Battle Magic has very little use, _child"_ Oieyo nearly snarls, apparently one of the teachers who did _not_ stand students talking when they were told not to. "There are quite a few _very_ worthwhile spells." With nary a word or movement, a silver arrow had _jumped_ from the elf's hand and hurtled straight into the students hand.*

There was a muffled cry of pain before the student was utterly silent and focussed on the teacher. Oieyo's frigid eyes seemed to challenge anyone to speak against what he had done before he went straight back into the lesson.

Callisto only had to glance once at Hermione's utterly scandalized, offended expression before placing a silencing spell on her. While she might not enjoy spending any amount of time around Hermione that would never mean she wanted to see her with an arrow through her hand… or her head.

...

* _Oro Oppugno- conjures and sends arrows towards a specific point._

...

 _[September 7, 1994 :: Chloelle Girard's Classroom]_

After an eventful and slightly painful Battle Magic class and a grueling Physical Combat class, Callisto was incredibly glad to just have medimagic. She could ignore the fact that Assistant Healer Andronikos had made it perfectly clear his intention to figure out what exactly was so odd about her, and that she had to spend much of the time listening to Susan and Hannah talk about _Nicholas Warner,_ their incubus Physical Combat teacher.

Callisto might have been tempted to join in if it weren't for the fact that Warner had took it upon himself to make her utterly miserable after finding out that Aunt Petunia had forced her into Gymnastics lessons for two years (until she found out that Callisto was enjoying them) and that she had kept practicing even after that. Warner's curious expression and his slightly sadistic delight when she had admitted it led to Warner using her as target practice and making her dodge everything he threw at her in increasingly difficult (read: painful) ways.

So yeah, Callisto was glad she had medimagic so she could figure out how to make it _stop hurting for Merlin's sake._

Healer Girard and Assistant Healer Andronikos were both brilliant teachers… in their slightly twisted ways. Andronikos had started off by _breaking a students arm_ (he had apparently annoyed him or something) and teaching them rather cheerfully about how to properly splint and then treat broken bones.

When Hermione had asked if Healers took something similar to the Hippocratic Oath, it had been met with somewhat amused laughter.

"Public Healers, yes. Private Healers and anyone from Galen's Academy of Healers-the healing specific sister school of Altair-have the option of taking the oath and being placed in the Guild of Hippocrates." Healer Girard explained, "The Guild of Hippocrates is a group of Healers that are protected by the entirety of the Coven Council and quite a few other groups. The punishment that comes from unlawfully attacking someone from the Guild of Hippocrates is generally death."

"Healer Vesalien, the main healer here, has taken the Hippocratic Oath." Andronikos explains idly, "The Guild of Hippocrates is surprisingly exclusive. They take anyone from Galen's Academy, but are selective with the few other elite healing school."

The delighted expression on Hannah's face told Callisto exactly what _her_ goal in life would now be.

…

 **I'm so sorry.** It's been like a month. That sucks. Holy hell I've been too busy to even really think about this. But hey here it is.


	24. Chapter 24

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count:: 3,268_

 _[Letter :: Sirius Black, Remus Lupin to Callisto Potter]_

September 7, 1994

Dearest Bambi,

First, this is the seventh draft of this letter. Sirius has ruined the other six.

We're both very glad that you are enjoying your new school so much. However, " _I already almost died?"_ Are you entirely sure you want to stay at Altair? Part of the agreement was that the Hogwarts students could leave whenever they feel the need to, and we just want to make sure you're safe.

From what I've understood from rumor about Altair is that the teachers are picky and blatantly show favoritism towards different students or even species. I do hope that the rumors were exaggerated, and that none of your teachers would hurt students. Sirius is laughing over my shoulder.

Were you aware that the only other Hogwarts students before your group to ever transfer to Altair was a Black? There are quite a few journals about it in the Black Library. Unfortunately, they are only accessible by someone who is an official student of Altair, though I'm unsure as to how the journals could possibly tell.

Anyways, before I give Sirius the quill, I hope that you learn quite a lot and enjoy all of your teachers. I have a few questions, too. Do they use galleons in the market or another currency? What other classes do you have? Could you send me instructions on wandless magic?

That's all, just remember to look at the package we sent, it has some things we thought you might-

Hey Bambi, your _favorite_ 'uncle' here. We're running out of parchment, so I'll have to be quick. Altair and your classes both sound like fun. I know that some of the teachers will no doubt be cruel and dangerous, but people like those always have the most interesting experiences. You'll be leaving Altair a brilliant little witch, and then you'll make a fantastic Head of the House of Black!

On far more interesting terms, I think Luna has the right idea in decorating. Add some neon green or something. I expect the next letter to detail a very good prank.

Love you, Bambi,

Padfoot and Moony

 _..._

 _[September 8, 1994 :: Student Garden, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Daph," Blaise began, scowling at the cool morning air, "Was this where Nature Magic was on Tuesday as well?"

"Do not call me 'Daph'," Daphne says cooly, "and yes."

"It's cold." Terry complains idly. Sure, the Ravenclaws might not have always gotten along with Slytherins, but they were in a whole different place. It had only taken two days for all of the Hogwarts students to decide to rely on each other. (Well, most of them. Draco had said something cruel and sauntered off somewhere. He'd shown back up a couple of hours later bleeding from gashes on his arms that looked oddly like nails or claws had made them, ordering Hannah to heal him _this instant._ She had, of course, though it didn't stop Draco from saying he wouldn't associate with lowly half-bloods… never mind that Hannah was a pureblood.)

"No shit." Justin deadpans in reply.

"I did tell you to bring a sweater." Hannah comments, eyeing the two of them. "I wonder if Mister Quiell will be like Mister Riveras-"

"You can hope," one of the Altair students interrupted, sneering, "Master Quiell has never appreciated vermin like _humans_."

"That's enough, Wael," another student interrupted him, "especially considering that Master Quiell refused to teach you shamanic magic because of your _abysmal_ fae magic talents the previous year."

The student faced the huddled Hogwarts students with a mild expression, "Name's _Freyr._ "

Blaise could immediately tell the emphasis on his name wasn't for the benefit of the Hogwarts students, but rather the benefit of the other fae. It was the same way his mother would pointedly accent _Zabini_ when introducing herself. It was to inspire fear. But Freyr's name seemed to inspire horror and disgust in the other fae.

"Freyr," he repeats without hesitation, "of the Cawlden House of Nature." Many of the Altair students mutter, and Blaise clearly hears the insults directed at Freyr from the other fae.

"Freyr," the person who speaks must have been the teacher, Hadriel Quiell. He doesn't look very happy that 'Freyr' was there. "The _exiled_ and _shamed_ , taken in by the _filthy_ House of Cawlden." Quiell is sneering, "Looks like you took after your defective uncle rather than your father."

 _Well that was great news_ , Blaise thought, refraining from grimacing. One thing he'd come to realize is that species generally stuck together. The fae wouldn't insult or reject another fae if he did something mildly wrong. The fact that Quiell had outright excluded a fae like himself either meant that Quiell was going to treat everyone else _worse_ than Freyr, or Freyr had done something so devastatingly terrible that he wasn't considered a fae anymore. Blaise was pretty damn sure which of those two possibilities were accurate.

So much for learning how to use innate magic to fuel ritual and renewal magic. He was going to have to spend far too much time making sure not to get in Quiell's way and get eviscerated.

…

 _[September 8, 1994 :: Potions Instructions Lab, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"I had heard terrible things about the Hogwarts potions curriculum," Ugil Malowitz began at the start of his second class with the Hogwarts students, "I hadn't expected you to be this _fucking_ awful."

There's a muffled snort from one of the students. Ugil hadn't bothered learning their names, but he did take note of which student it was. They'd be testing one of his next potions in due time.

"I was fully aware that, though he was a prestigious Potions Master, Severus Snape was a terrible teacher. He was incapable of teaching even Apprentice Level students." Ugil pauses, grimacing at the memory. They Potions Mastery Guild had instructed Snape to teach a group of seven apprentices his modifications to the Wolfsbane potion (Snape had managed to remove the drowsy, drunken effects the potions gave to werewolves on full moons) and only three of the apprentices had continued working towards their mastery. _Four_ of the apprentices had left. Ugil had only ever gotten three to quit after a lesson with him.

"The previous lesson I had you fill out a ingredient use table, a reaction table, a _usage_ table. Only three of the twelve of you managed to fill out all three! None of you are nearly competent enough to be in even an _entry level_ potions course here at Altair! If Mercuriel hadn't offered me a raise to continue teaching _absolute idiots_ beginning potions, I would have poisoned the lot of you on _principle!"_ Ugil shouts.

Ugil knew _eight-year-olds_ who could fill out the three tables. Admittedly, all of them were children of either potions masters or apprentices, but that didn't change the fact that they had been taught potions for _four fucking years_ and still didn't know what ingredients would cause toxic explosions when combined. He was already dreading finding out what their ingredient preparation skills were.

"Instead, I'm going to spend a total of three weeks catching you up. That is five lessons. If, by the end of the five lessons, you _still_ are incapable of filling out guide tables, you are _never returning to my class again._ You will be barred from _many_ of the classes at Altair. And, _you will be my fucking lab rat."_

Fucking British wizards.

…

 _[September 8. 1994 :: Atrium, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Altair will be so much more work than Hogwarts ever was, Callisto decides while tiredly eating lunch. To be completely fair, she only had Potions and Runes on Thursdays, but she was still aching from both physical combat and having Assistant Healer Andronikos decide that the best way to show the class how to heal cuts was to _slice her arm open with a dagger._

Callisto was _not_ fond of Healer Andronikos.

She _was_ fond of the sandwiches and fresh fruit Altair offered, however.

They were very tasty.

…

"Hey, Potter." a group of students approached Callisto as she wandered back to the dorms halfway through the break, a second sandwich clutched in one hand.

"Yes?" Callisto queried, slightly warily. She was not fond of being approached by a group of older Altair students whose magical auras were very scary and pointy looking. She did know two of them, Reagan Lorenzo and Sei Verrick, Callisto's mentor.

"Azzie!" Sei greeted cheerfully, looping an arm around her shoulder and grinning somewhat menacingly down at her. Sei had never yet willingly touched any of the Hogwarts students. "Little Azzie, would you mind teaching us something new?"

"What..?" Callisto replies, sounding rather bemused.

"The five of us," Reagan interrupts, "Sei, Gabel, Adran, Izak and I," she gestures to each person as a brief introduction, "Are advanced blood magic, necromancy or soul magic students. Or all of those."

"We want to experiment." Gabel explains ever so helpfully.

"On me?" Callisto asks warily.

"On that wicked scar of yours," Gabel agreed, "and on the way you survived two killing curses. The taint of death on your magic. The funny way your soul looks. Why exactly you were forbidden from blood magic and necromancy classes."

"Oh." Callisto pauses, "Am I supposed to just let you _experiment_ on my magic? What do I even get out of this?"

"Good," Sei declares, "you're learning. Each of us will tutor you without further payment if you need it, though only for as long as you let us play with your magic. Not to mention the fact that the only one who would ever touch your blood would be _me._ "

Oddly, Callisto thinks, it sounded slightly like the deal was in her own favor, rather than theirs. Probably because whatever they wanted to 'play' with in her magic would hurt.

"When exactly are you planning on experimenting on my magic?"

"Some evenings, because you have those free and a blood magic or necromancy teacher would be able to supervise and make sure we don't accidentally kill you." Reagan explains.

"Right. And that's going to be a possibility." Callisto sounds slightly worried. The grins she gets from more than one of the group around her don't help her relax.

Callisto has the feeling that this will either be a choice that leads her on a successful path or one that ruins her completely. Hopefully it's the first.

 _..._

 _[September 8, 1994 :: Alejandro Calmenero's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

This might have only been the second runes class with Profe Calmenero, but Callisto was already upset she had missed out on learning such an interesting the previous year. (Though, if by Profe's introductory speech on the fact that runes were more than just an old magical alphabet that was used thousands of years ago and Hermione's dejected expression, Callisto was certain that it was not what Professor Babbling had been teaching her students.)

The last class, Calmenero had declared that because of the "terrible teaching standards in Europe these last couple of hundred years" they would need to go over the meanings of every rune in the Elder FuÞark runic alphabet ("the only valuable one"). That is to say, starting with ansuz and finishing with algiz. (At this point in the previous class, Hermione had raised her hand and declared imperiously that that was _not_ how you read the alphabet, and that obviously it was done solely by meaning and that knowing the letter they represented was _useless,_ was it not, to which Calmenero agreed cheerfully and ignored her for the next half of the class.)

Today they were studying the runes representing A through G, because "seven is important!"

"We start with _ansuz,_ which typically represents order, reason, inspiration, language, sound, and quite a bit more. Quite often, _ansuz_ is embedded into journals or occasionally painted into the skins of storytellers. There are beautiful runic inscriptions in many magical libraries and museums." Calmenero explained happily, the rune being written in golden lettering in the air above him.

He ignored the few raised hands from the Hogwarts students and continued on with his explanation, not giving any time at all for students to really understand what he said.

"B, or _berkana,_ is a rune representing the birch tree, birth, fertility, and new beginnings. This rune is used frequently, unsurprisingly, in nature magic, by mothers, and travelers. C is _kaunaz,_ or _kenaz,_ and is actually 'K' but those two letters are typically interchangeable. _Kaunaz_ represents wisdom or insight, as well as a beacon such as a torch, which also makes it represent fire and light. There is a reason the simple spell _lumos_ is drawn like so, , as it pulls from the light representation of the _kaunaz_ rune."

" _Dagaz._ Daylight. It's… not that interesting. Used in the right situation, _dagaz_ can call prosperity or abundance. _Ehwaz,_ which only represents transportations, specifically by horse. Ehwaz is usually carved into saddles or branded onto horses as it brings safe travel more often than not. _Fehu_ is another rune that represents prosperity, though it is typically used in relation to wealth. _Fehu_ used to be painted on signs as a warning to travelers on pathways that a bridge or city would have fees for entrance or passage. G is _gebo,_ a gift. Love, balance, hospitality. _Gebo_ is a very gentle rune, that only has very passive effects."

Calmenero turned to the class expectantly.

"Questions?"

...

 _[September 8, 1994 :: Nuala Sikkel's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Terry entered the second blood magic class with the expectation it would be just the same as the previous one. Same students (two particularly cruel vampires who had tried to cut his throat until Blaise-bless whatever illegal magic his mother had taught him-had done something), same grueling speed in which Sikkel would explain something and expect you to understand it the first time she said it.

It wasn't the same.

Five students from what Terry could tell had dropped the class, two of the fae, two humans and a werewolf. It brought the class down to around 20 students. It was obvious Sikkel had noted the dropouts even quicker than he had, as she was smiling a little victoriously.

Terry decided he would just not think about it.

"Today were overviewing the two things you need specifically for blood magic. Knives and Ritual Rooms." Sikkel started immediately, "Knives are probably the more important of the two."

"As I told you yesterday, you have to literally carve runes into your skin to be able to perform blood magic. However, you can't just use whatever instrument you want to carve into your skin, you need to use specialized blood magic knives. As an example, I have this knife."

The 'knife' that Sikkel held up did not look at all like a knife. It was made almost completely of a hollowed wood, with a sharp nib at one end not dissimilar to a quill. What wasn't the light wood was gold that had been mixed with Sikkel's blood at one point, which circled the handle and formed the edge of the nib.

"This is one of my newest blood magic knives." Sikkel explains, "As you can see, it is made of wood, which is a material you have to be very careful about using. Wooden knives are typically good specifically for agility and speed based rune sets. They can also be used for reflex enhancement rituals, though with far less guaranteed safety."

"A knife that could work for you perfectly in one ritual could shatter before you even try to use it in a different ritual. But for that you would have to explain ritual rooms. Ritual rooms are typically stone, though I have seen pure marble or other magic enhancing materials create _wonderful_ blood magic sets. The main requirements for a ritual room is that they have to be isolated, with magic dampening warding so that the person performing the ritual wont have external magics mixing with their ritual."

"External magic can cause awful things to happen to someone trying to perform _any_ type of blood magic. It is one of the reasons you can't bring _anything,_ including clothing, other than blood magic knives and ritual enhancers-salts, candles, essences or whatever-into a ritual room. If you'd like to try, however, the advanced blood magic students would be very glad to have another body to study."

 _Maybe those five students had the right idea,_ Terry thought with a grimace.

…

 _[September 8, 1994 :: Caracalla Ircoriel's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

"Let me start by saying that if you are in this class and _not_ in my Blood Magic class, leave." Nuala Sikkel pauses, "Right now. Leave."

No one left.

"As is incredibly evident, this is most definitely not my classroom."

Nuala gestured blandly to the room, with its grecian architecture, marble pillars and ivory decorations. It was reminiscent of the colosseum of Rome… except enclosed. And brand new. There were massive tapestries hanging behind the highest rows of seating, depicting bloody battles thousands of years old, massive beasts and dragons, dangerous vampires, and so much more. It wasn't the toned down yet still regal stone and wood hall that her own blood magic classes were held in, but rather an opulent display of wealth and power.

Nuala had always thought that Caracalla spent his wealth on random and entirely unnecessary things, but she always remembered that Caracalla seldom had to ever actually pay for things. People did things for him because they were afraid he would just kill them if he wasn't satisfied. (Caracalla never would, Nuala knew. He was surprisingly fair to anyone who had less power than him.)

"This is Master Ircoriel's Advanced Blood, Soul and Necromancy classroom. The rooms I usually use for my necromancy classes have been lit on fire by a formerly alive mentally inhibited nitwit and so we're here. I advise against touching anything that looks like it my be alive as it will probably eat you."

Nuala surveyed the students. It must have been only 20 students, less than half of all of her beginning blood magic classes. Perhaps seven of the students would be there after the new year. This class was far more gruesome than blood magic ever managed to be. It might be the fact that some students could tear their souls in half on accident (and they didn't even work with soul magic!) or maybe the fact that a quarter of the students who were no longer in the class were either eaten by inferi, or had their souls consumed by angry spirits.

"Necromancy. A lot of people think they know what necromancy is. It's raising the dead, isn't it?" Nuala pauses dramatically. "While it is definitely partly that, a large branch of necromancy is understanding the dead, communicating with them, learning from them. And then there is Death Magic. Technically a branch of necromancy, it's not something you will ever be taught unless you're the apprentice of one of the four people with masteries in the subject."

"Necromancy is not an easy subject to learn. It's dangerous. Many of you will end up far deader because of necromancy rather than blood magic. This isn't a class many people enjoy." Nuala has said this speech every year for the last ten years. He's bored of it. "All of you will likely die." ...at some point in your life, but only half of you will die because of necromancy.

Their expressions of mild horror this year were far more satisfying than the concerned ones that she has gotten from every other year.

 _..._

 **I'm a terrible updater.** I'm fully aware. Gah. I don't even know when the last time I updated was. This chapter is almost fully in thanks to those two guest reviewers who made me ask myself why exactly I _hadn't_ already written this chapter so here you go. Only 3 more chapters of daily school before the story actually does fun things.

Anyways I hope you enjoyed!

ALSO wow more than 3000 words thats a lot of words. So many words.

Thanks for all of the favorites and follows!

~Insubstantial


	25. Chapter 25

_Summary: After Callisto Potter defeats Voldemort in the graveyard after the third task, Minister Fudge and Headmaster Dumbledore decide to create an exchange program with the Altair Institute of Magic, a school that caters to all types of magical beings, to "improve" relations with creatures. They just want the Girl-Who-Lived out of their hair. Like all things involving Callisto, everything goes sideways._

 _Disclaimer: Unfortunately, I don't seem to have acquired a massive amount of money recently, so I regret to inform you that I am not J. K. Rowling... Sadly. Ergh, back to being nearly broke~!_

…

 _Word Count::_ 1,902

 _[September 9, 1994 :: Student Garden, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Yesterday, when Marcus had mentioned to Susan that she, and the other Hogwarts students in the Shamanic Magic classes should probably just not bother wearing shoes, she didn't even bother mentioning it to anyone else. Of course, Luna had still shown up without shoes.

Blaise had laughed when he'd seen her.

He didn't notice how very few of the Altair students were wearing shoes, including Freyr, who seemed to be trying to make it a little easier on the Hogwarts students.

Then Hadriel Quiell had shown up, insulted and degraded the Hogwarts students, Freyr, and more than one non-fae students, and ordered them to take off their shoes. He had declared that if they were so self-important as to be so disconnected with the world around them, they had better leave his class (and better yet, the school).

So today, they had left their shoes in their rooms and trudged through the frigid air and damp grass to the garden that Quiell planned to teach them at.

Yesterday really hadn't been very informative. Quiell had spend half the time insulting nearly everyone who wasn't fae, and then describing all of the glorious ways you could use the magic, before declaring that "Oh, but only proper fae could do that."

Freyr had mentioned that the first lessons in any Altair class were meant to dissuade students from taking the class again before vanishing. Literally. He just… melted into the greenery.

That was yesterday.

Today had not gone well either.

Quiell had, however, shown them an example of ritual and renewal magic. That wasn't Susan's problem with it at all. Her problem came in when that ritual magic was of the kind do only properly affect fae-and to debilitate anyone who wasn't fae.

Quiell had instructed some of the students to set up a ritual while explaining the importance of each component, and when it was time to perform the ritual, he had a (fae) student from a higher class come and perform it. Quiell had referred to it as a 'ritual of the simplest kind of renewal magic,' one that he could have performed in his sleep.

Quiell did not mention that the ritual he chose was prejudiced against non-fae.

He also didn't help when nearly the entire non-fae portion of the class had collapsed in pain from the hostility of the ritual he chose.

…

Wait, why was Luna still standing?

…

 _[September 9, 1994 :: Jonathan Powell's Classroom, Altair Institute of Magic]_

Callisto found it rather interesting that while Altair required students to take Charms, there was no requirement for anyone to take Transfiguration. She'd asked Sei the previous day, and he had just grinned and told her that "you'll find out tomorrow." Not the most comforting, she had to say.

Here she was, back in Powell's class.

"Undoubtedly, all of you have had some training in Transfiguration before now." Powell began, "However, I am not entirely sure what rules you have been taught before now. Various magical academies," Callisto noticed his eyes trail over the Hogwarts students, "like teaching how to transfigure objects or animals, but very rarely teach many of the rules surrounding the subject. This includes, of _course_ , teaching rules that don't actually exist."

" _What?"_ Hermione blurts out. Callisto can't help but sigh. Hermione had always thought that the majority of Hogwarts teachers were infallible. But really, after four full days of being proven wrong, that opinion still _hadn't changed._

Powell's unimpressed stare seemed to mirror Callisto's own unimpressed thoughts.

"Many people are taught that magic follows the same laws as physics. Conservation of mass, energy, and whatnot. While it certainly does, for the most part, Transfiguration is one of those subjects that seems to be a particular exception to the rule." Powell continues, seeming to ignore Hermione's outburst.

"Fee-zicks?" Callisto hears Ron ask from behind her. _Right,_ she thinks despondently, _they won't even know what the most basic laws of physics are. Well. This will be interesting._

"Physics, Weasley." Powell corrects, turning to him with narrowed eyes. "I assume, at least, that our Hogwarts students know what the most basic laws of _physics_ are."

Surprisingly, most of the Hogwarts students in the class had enough tact not to respond. They figured that they would just fill in each others knowledge later (something that was moderately effective and didn't get them harassed by mocking students). But not Ron.

"What's physics?"

Callisto sincerely hoped he got kicked out soon. The quicker he left, the less likely it was that he would end up very, very dead.

…

 _[Letter :: Callisto Potter-Black to Fred Weasley, George Weasley]_

Dearest twins,

I request humbly and politely that you _do something about your idiot brother Ronald._

Get your mother to withdraw him- send him a Howler telling him he has to go back to Hogwarts or something! This idiot is going to get himself murdered, or flayed, or tortured or _something,_ and I know for certain there won't be ANYONE helping him out of it. Even Granger has tried to get away from him, and she's barely tactful enough to not get her own head cut off in class.

Off of that subject, dear twins, I got your letter.

Pranking the "filthy toad," _Dumbledore style?_ Ingenious. Bravo!

Of course, I will send you a list of ideas that I think might be useful. Yes, I will actually put in an investment into WWW. I'll tell Sirius (who'll ask Remus) to formally fill out the paperwork and documents needed to both found a business and make me a primary investor in it.

I'll be sending you a book-don't think of it as a gift, think of it as an investment to further _my_ company even further-that contains a lot of helpful beginner Stealth Magic tips. Most of them are just basic spells to change hair, eye or skin color. The real disguises work better with size and shape change, but you really need to be supervised to learn that. If I get good at it, maybe I'll teach you next summer.

Mischief Managed,

Callisto Potter

P.S. No. I'm not telling you who my 'little birdie' is. Find your own.

 _..._

 _[September 9, 1994 :: Dueling Platforms, Altair Institute of Magic]_

As every torture session started, the Hogwarts students ran three laps to the end of the row of dueling platforms and back, and then began stretching and doing other exercises. After three days of classes, most of them started on the laps before Warner even got there. The happier the incubus was the less likelihood of him taking it out on them. ("And," Blaise overheard Susan whispering to Hannah, "the prettier his smile is.")

 _Honestly,_ Blaise couldn't help but wonder, _who's bright idea was it to make a sadistic incubus the teacher for a physical class._

Blaise certainly noticed how pretty the teacher was- handsome, he meant. His mother had always taught him the 'polite' terms to describe someone, (and wasn't that ironic, what with his mother calling her 'pets' adorable and pretty.)

Blaise would honestly enjoy the class more if every smile the incubus gave didn't seem so _fakefakefake_ and downright _threatening._ It reminded him of his mother.

Oh, that wasn't a good thought.

("Move your feet into the beginner's position" Warner called from where he stalked through the sweating students, politely correcting those who weren't in the right position. "If I can easily push you over, you do an extra set of each exercise.")

 _Not a good thought,_ Blaise amended grimly, _but the sadism matched._

The one good thing about the class was watching so many of the idiots embarass themselves. By idiots, Blaise meant the majority of the Hogwarts students. Of course, he would never call them that to their face… that would have been _rude,_ and Blaise was _anything_ but rude.

Usually.

(Warner hardly had to touch Malfoy's shoulder to have him slip from the rather easy stance and trip onto the ground. From his spot, Blaise hears Callisto cough something that sounds rather suspiciously like a laugh under her breath. That's the third Hogwarts student that Warner barely even had to touch to watch them fall over. Disappointing.)

It's not the first time this week that Blaise was glad for his mother's… hobbies. Or her obsessive need to teach him about it. Bless his mother, honestly.

…

 _[September 9, 1994 :: Chloelle Girard's Classroom]_

Hannah absolutely _adored_ her Medimagic classes. Sure, they weren't (at this point) very advanced, and she already knew a lot of the basics they were going over, but it was still wonderful to have practical experience.

She did disapprove of Assistant Healer Andronikos' methods, however, and she was slightly concerned for Callisto's wellbeing going on. All the teachers seemed to have it out for her in one way or another. At least, since it was a Medimagic class, they were learning how to _undo_ all of that.

Wednesday, they had been taught how to seal uninfected and unpoisoned cuts. (Hence the cutting Azzie's arm open.) The spell they'd been taught, _sarcio sana_ , was basically intended to seal the skin. Hannah figured that the 'sana' part meant that it could only have been used for healing, but of _course_ Callisto went and proved her wrong today (Hannah really wasn't surprised, it seemed to be a habit of Azzie's to just prove any and everyone wrong… usually unintentionally.)

"Healer Andronikos?" Callisto had asked, "The spell we were taught yesterday- _sarcio sana_ \- if the wound had actually been infected or poisoned, would it have trapped the poison inside of my skin?"

Andronikos hadn't answered. He'd just grinned, teeth glinting sharply. Hannah remembers what Callisto had told her Wednesday after class, "Andronikos is a water daemon. They're supposed to be the nice ones-he's really not." It had left them both wondering why. Now she was even more curious, because that wasn't quite a pleasant smile. Why in Merlin's name had a somewhat passive water daemon become a violent, but experienced, healer?

…

Chloelle couldn't help but wonder what Andronikos was doing. The daemon had always been bitchy and rude to patients, but only ever if they had first treated him with disrespect. The blatant bias against the girl might have made sense, what with plenty of her other teachers eagerly pitting her against things there should have been no way for her to compete with, but Andronikos had never joined in before.

It made her wonder what the daemons had planned. Really, it made her wonder what everyone had planned. Silaes was possessive of his newfound Speaker, the Vampire triad-Aeldyn, Riveren, and Caracalla-all seemed… curious, for the first time, about one of the students. Alish had silently pushed the rules slightly (not broken them, of course, Altair teachers and administration would never _break_ a rule… they'd just have them changed to suit their needs) to allow staff to essentially be prejudiced for and against the girl.

(That had only been after Caracalla had threatened to experiment on anyone who severely injured the girl. His reasoning? If anyone was going to do it, it would be him. Chloelle was fairly certain that reasoning was terrible.)

Honestly, though? Chloelle liked the girl.

Callisto Azalea Potter-Black was certainly a mystery, and one that Altair staff were particularly eager to solve and sway to their side.

Chloelle would just have to wait and figure out why later on.

…

 **Hehehhe…. Uhhhh**

Hi

I exist still.

Sorry.

Yeah well okay so I finally updated its only been like… 8 months? I may have forgotten I wrote this. I still need to reread the whole thing to remind myself of what was happening. I do actually want to continue this story, though.

I also kind of want to obsessively rewrite it, but there's like oh I don't 63,486 words of story right now? I rewrote the first chapter though, and I added like 300 words. If I stay at about that amount, I'd have to obsessively rewrite like 70,000 words, basically over summer because I will have very little time once school starts up. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Maybe later.

I am planning to like actually figure out what I want to do with this story very soon and hopefully, it won't be 8 months before I update again.

Cheers.


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